Nor’easter freezes East Coast. What that means for Christmas in Myrtle Beach
A massive winter storm brought a blizzard to much of the East Coast this week, covering hundreds of miles from North Carolina to Massachusetts in feet of snow.
But why didn’t Myrtle Beach get to see any snow? Where’s our white Christmas? (Or, at least, white-week-before-Christmas.)The short answer is, don’t count on a Bing Crosby moment for the holiday here, but bundle up anyway.
The same nor’easter storm that gave parts of North Carolina their first snowfall of the year only brought temperatures in the mid-40s and barely half an inch of rain to the Grand Strand, according to the National Weather Service .
A couple things stand in the way of Myrtle Beach seeing the chillier effects of these storms, NWS meteorologist Steven Pfaff said. First, the more southern parts of the East Coast see stronger effects of the Gulf Stream, which brings up warm Atlantic Ocean water from the equator. Then, this year’s La Niña, hallmarked by drier air and warmer temperatures, takes away the two main things South Carolina’s coast needs to see snow — cold air and moisture.
La Niña also pushes the jet stream, the climate pattern that air follows as it passes around the globe, farther north. This means that cold Arctic air, which brings with it the best chances for snow, is less likely to reach us.
Finally, even though the storm that dumped mountains of snowfall on New York City passed right by us, it was still gaining strength. This a common occurrence for storms in this stretch of the East Coast. The climate near the Outer Banks in North Carolina provides the last bit of fuel these storms need to begin releasing precipitation as they continue moving up the coast.
“This thing really didn’t get its act together until it went north of here,” Pfaff said. “We typically see that from the Outer Banks northward. So they really get their act together and really start to pull in that cold air, generally, when they’re passing us by, so we might see the tail end of that. But every so often, everything lines up where we do get a significant winter weather event.”
But strong nor’easters aren’t all they seem. While they may bring beautiful snowfall to the northeastern U.S., they often do so quickly. Storms that drop 3-5 inches of snow within a few hours can quickly create dangerous road conditions when they catch people unaware or unprepared, Pfaff said.
“That just quickly overwhelms any mitigation efforts that have been employed,” he said.
Myrtle Beach also dodged a major bullet by staying warmer this past week. Even though there was only 1/16 inch of rainfall in Georgetown and 1/3 inch in North Myrtle Beach, that tiny amount of rain can dampen roads and freeze on contact, or overnight. Quickly frozen roads create hazardous conditions, and two of the biggest sources of winter-time injuries come from pedestrians falling on ice and car accidents on icy roads, Pfaff said.
“If you have a little bit of light precipitation occurring at the onset of an event, then it could be very dangerous if that Arctic air mass is in place already,” he said.
Next week’s forecast is still unpredictable. While it’s highly unlikely to see any snow on Christmas, Pfaff said there’s still a chance these erratic storms could clear up enough to have a sunny holiday. At the very least, it should be good outdoor (beach) weather on either Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.
Though, you may not want to get in the water. It *might* be a tad cold with a high of 51 degrees.
