Spring Weather in Charleston South Carolina, United States

Daily high temperatures increase by 19°F, from 65°F to 84°F, rarely falling below 54°F or exceeding 90°F.

Daily low temperatures increase by 22°F, from 48°F to 70°F, rarely falling below 36°F or exceeding 76°F.

For reference, on July 22, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Charleston typically range from 77°F to 89°F, while on January 17, the coldest day of the year, they range from 43°F to 59°F.

The figure below shows you a compact characterization of the hourly average spring temperatures. The horizontal axis is the day, the vertical axis is the hour of the day, and the color is the average temperature for that hour and day.

Uzunbağ, Turkey (6,138 miles away); Yangshuo, China (8,410 miles); and Kuai’an, China (8,188 miles) are the far-away foreign places with temperatures most similar to Charleston (view comparison).

© OpenStreetMap contributors

Compare Charleston to another city:

CompareMap

The spring in Charleston experiences essentially constant cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy remaining about 42% throughout the season. The lowest chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 37% on April 29.

The clearest day of the spring is April 29, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 63% of the time.

For reference, on July 26, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 57%, while on October 26, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 66%.

A wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Charleston, the chance of a wet day over the course of the spring is rapidly increasing, starting the season at 27% and ending it at 34%.

For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 51% on August 4, and its lowest chance is 19% on October 30.

Rainfall

To show variation within the season and not just the monthly totals, we show the rainfall accumulated over a sliding 31-day period centered around each day.

The average sliding 31-day rainfall during the spring in Charleston is essentially constant, remaining about 2.9 inches throughout, and rarely exceeding 5.9 inches or falling below 0.9 inches.

The lowest average 31-day accumulation is 2.5 inches on May 5.

Over the course of the spring in Charleston, the length of the day is very rapidly increasing. From the start to the end of the season, the length of the day increases by 2 hours, 39 minutes, implying an average daily increase of 1 minute, 45 seconds, and weekly increase of 12 minutes, 16 seconds.

The shortest day of the spring is March 1, with 11 hours, 31 minutes of daylight and the longest day is May 31, with 14 hours, 10 minutes of daylight.

The latest sunrise of the spring in Charleston is 7:35 AM on March 10 and the earliest sunrise is 1 hour, 23 minutes earlier at 6:12 AM on May 31.

The earliest sunset is 6:17 PM on March 1 and the latest sunset is 2 hours, 5 minutes later at 8:22 PM on May 31.

Daylight saving time (DST) starts at 3:00 AM on March 10, 2024, shifting sunrise and sunset to be an hour later.

For reference, on June 20, the longest day of the year, the Sun rises at 6:12 AM and sets 14 hours, 19 minutes later, at 8:30 PM, while on December 21, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 7:18 AM and sets 10 hours, 0 minutes later, at 5:17 PM.

The figure below presents a compact representation of the sun's elevation (the angle of the sun above the horizon) and azimuth (its compass bearing) for every hour of every day in the reporting period. The horizontal axis is the day of the year and the vertical axis is the hour of the day. For a given day and hour of that day, the background color indicates the azimuth of the sun at that moment. The black isolines are contours of constant solar elevation.

The figure below presents a compact representation of key lunar data for the spring of 2024. The horizontal axis is the day, the vertical axis is the hour of the day, and the colored areas indicate when the moon is above the horizon. The vertical gray bars (new Moons) and blue bars (full Moons) indicate key Moon phases. The label associated with each bar indicates the date and time that the phase is obtained, and the companion time labels indicate the rise and set times of the Moon for the nearest time interval in which the moon is above the horizon.

We base the humidity comfort level on the dew point, as it determines whether perspiration will evaporate from the skin, thereby cooling the body. Lower dew points feel drier and higher dew points feel more humid. Unlike temperature, which typically varies significantly between night and day, dew point tends to change more slowly, so while the temperature may drop at night, a muggy day is typically followed by a muggy night.

The chance that a given day will be muggy in Charleston is very rapidly increasing during the spring, rising from 3% to 73% over the course of the season.

For reference, on July 19, the muggiest day of the year, there are muggy conditions 99% of the time, while on January 31, the least muggy day of the year, there are muggy conditions 1% of the time.

This section discusses the wide-area hourly average wind vector (speed and direction) at 10 meters above the ground. The wind experienced at any given location is highly dependent on local topography and other factors, and instantaneous wind speed and direction vary more widely than hourly averages.

The average hourly wind speed in Charleston is decreasing during the spring, decreasing from 10.7 miles per hour to 8.9 miles per hour over the course of the season.

For reference, on February 26, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 10.9 miles per hour, while on August 16, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 7.8 miles per hour.

The wind direction in Charleston during the spring is predominantly out of the west from March 1 to March 16 and the south from March 16 to May 31.

Charleston is located near a large body of water (e.g., ocean, sea, or large lake). This section reports on the wide-area average surface temperature of that water.

The average surface water temperature in Charleston is very rapidly increasing during the spring, rising by 13°F, from 63°F to 76°F, over the course of the season.

The lowest average surface water temperature during the spring is 63°F on March 6.

Definitions of the growing season vary throughout the world, but for the purposes of this report, we define it as the longest continuous period of non-freezing temperatures (≥ 32°F) in the year (the calendar year in the Northern Hemisphere, or from July 1 until June 30 in the Southern Hemisphere).

The growing season in Charleston typically lasts for 10 months (308 days), from around February 15 to around December 19, rarely starting before January 22 or after March 11, and rarely ending before November 26 or after January 8.

The spring in Charleston is very likely fully within the growing season, with the chance that a given day is in the growing season rapidly increasing from 78% to 100% over the course of the season.

Growing degree days are a measure of yearly heat accumulation used to predict plant and animal development, and defined as the integral of warmth above a base temperature, discarding any excess above a maximum temperature. In this report, we use a base of 50°F and a cap of 86°F.

The average accumulated growing degree days in Charleston are very rapidly increasing during the spring, increasing by 1,506°F, from 311°F to 1,817°F, over the course of the season.

This section discusses the total daily incident shortwave solar energy reaching the surface of the ground over a wide area, taking full account of seasonal variations in the length of the day, the elevation of the Sun above the horizon, and absorption by clouds and other atmospheric constituents. Shortwave radiation includes visible light and ultraviolet radiation.

The average daily incident shortwave solar energy in Charleston is very rapidly increasing during the spring, rising by 2.0 kWh, from 4.5 kWh to 6.5 kWh, over the course of the season.

The highest average daily incident shortwave solar energy during the spring is 6.7 kWh on May 13.

For the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Charleston are 32.777 deg latitude, -79.931 deg longitude, and 20 ft elevation.

The topography within 2 miles of Charleston is essentially flat, with a maximum elevation change of 26 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 4 feet. Within 10 miles is also essentially flat (66 feet). Within 50 miles is essentially flat (509 feet).

The area within 2 miles of Charleston is covered by water (60%), artificial surfaces (27%), and herbaceous vegetation (12%), within 10 miles by artificial surfaces (33%) and water (33%), and within 50 miles by water (50%) and trees (27%).