How the climate of eastern South Carolina has changed over time - wpde.com

How the climate of eastern South Carolina has changed over time

(WPDE) — The climate on Earth naturally changes throughout time, however since the late 1800s, the climate has been changing little by little annually at a greater rate than natural climate drivers can influence.

The difference between weather and climate is time, as the climate is a collection of weather patterns over a given length of time. Changes in daily weather patterns outside of the norm for a region, even small, add up to changes in the overall climate.

2023 was the warmest year for the planet in the last century, especially for extreme Northern and Southern latitudes.

The Earth was a degree and a half warmer (in degrees Celsius) than normal as a whole. This measurement translates to around 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit of warming.

This warming does not mean that cold days do not occur, and it also does not mean that every location on Earth had a warm year region by region. A changing climate means weather variability will often be the most noticed trend.

This variability can take shape as cold days, warm days, drought, excessive rainfall, more storm systems, and beyond, depending on a region's latitude.

LOCAL: Finalists announced for 2025 Horry County Schools Teacher of the Year

A closer look at the warming for the Pee Dee and the Grand Strand in the last 54 years shows our area is also experiencing warming than normal temperature averages.

Since 1970, the average temperature across eastern South Carolina has increased by 1.2 Fahrenheit. This change may seem minuscule, however, an average temperature change of this nature is not felt in a day; it is felt over a long period.

Average warming rates have been higher in the Pee Dee than the Grand Strand, mostly due to the ocean's interaction with the climate of the Grand Strand (areas closer to the ocean heat and cool at a slower rate than inland areas).

Season by season, the warming on average is occurring across the board for eastern South Carolina.

Spring and fall are transition months in our region, so warming is less of a trend on average due to the cadence of weather systems' fluctuating conditions.

However, both the winter and summer seasons measure higher warming on average temperatures for the Pee Dee and the Grand Strand.

In Florence, the average temperature in the winter is three degrees warmer (measured in Fahrenheit).

In Myrtle Beach, the winter is on average 2.6 degrees warmer than normal.

TOP STORY: Laurinburg business fined after 19-year-old killed in workplace incident

Conversely, while summer afternoons are a bit warmer than normal on average for both Myrtle Beach and Florence, the best measurement of climatic warming in the summer is in overnight low temperatures.

The overnight low temperature in the summer is almost two degrees Fahrenheit warmer than normal as of 2022.

Summer nights in Myrtle Beach are a whopping 4.3 Fahrenheit warmer than normal as of 2022.

The humidity is also higher in the summer than normal due to climate change, which makes overall temperatures feel warmer as well.

The main takeaway from this segment is that the climate is changing globally and has been for over a century. This change is also measurable in the climate of the Pee Dee and the Grand Strand.