Weather in Charleston (North Charleston, Ravenel, North: move to, office, ranked)

[JoeyT]

One of my biggest criteria in looking at cities is the climate. The charts say average summer temps 75-80 but I notice it was 91 today. Which is the norm for summer? I also notice the description that says Charleston is one of the foggiest cities in the US. True? If so, when does the fog come usually?

[Captain Ed]

Foggy? No. It can be quite hazy due to the humidity, but definitely not foggy. We occasionally have foggy mornings during the winter, but they are few and far between.
As far as average summer temps, 75-80 seems low. Summers are hot and humid, no two ways about it.

[waccamatt]

75-80 would be the average low temperatures. Downtown Charleston's average low in July is 77 and the average high is 89. In North Charleston, at the airport, the average July high is 91 and the average low is 73.

Average Weather for Charleston, SC - Temperature and Precipitation

[bailey2008]

if you are planning to move to charleston, plan to sweat...the humidity makes a very "sticky" feeling. and just walking outdoors will make you sweat....

[pokrplr]

3 words...

HAZY

HOT

&

HUMID

[My Sunshine]

Definitely hot and sticky all summer, and it never really cools off at night (still warm and sticky at 10pm and 6am most days).

I have to disagree with the other posters about the fog though...we certainly do have our share of morning fog; it just usually burns off pretty quickly. Anybody who commutes across the Ravenel bridge every morning could probably attest to that. I'm surprised it ranked as one of the foggiest cities - I didn't think it happened THAT often - but IMO it's definitely not rare.

[Luvsdabeach]

I wonder if they were counting the sea fog as to why we are one of the foggiest cities?

[ohioaninsc]

Or are they counting the haziness as fog, the 3 Hs definitely define summer in the Lowcountry, heck that's the case for most of the Carolinas, except for the mountains.

[g-man430]

Hurricanes.

[WxJester]

Originally Posted by ohioaninsc

Or are they counting the haziness as fog, the 3 Hs definitely define summer in the Lowcountry, heck that's the case for most of the Carolinas, except for the mountains.

Depends on who did the study, but I doubt they included haziness. "Haze" and "fog" are pretty distinct weather conditions. Charleston fog does burn off relatively quickly - it's not like San Francisco or anywhere in the Appalachians where the fog just sits for days. If you're really interested in the climate, the National Weather Service has local climatic data on norms and extremes (National Weather Service Climate), as does the state climatologist's office (South Carolina State Climatology Office).

Keep in mind that what you think of as a "good climate" depends a lot on where you're coming from. Growing up in Charleston, I HATED summers - too hot and sticky. Now, after 8 years of shoveling snow, the old summer dash from air-conditioned building to air-conditioned building looks like a decent trade!