Charleston's four seasons
As the calendar turns to the first day of fall today, one of the questions I get from many people who are considering relocating to Charleston is about the weather, most importantly, is summer really hot and humid and how is winter.
Actually, I think Charleston has five seasons rather than just four because I think we have two summers and both are hot but early summer is hot and dry while late summer is hot and rainy. Winter thankfully is short and mild and that doesn't mean we don't get a half dozen really cold damp days but they are mixed in with beautiful weather, Carolina blue skies with nice temperatures. And best of all, spring and fall are long and glorious.
One week before fall actually began this year, the weather turned from summer to fall. The change was actually so sudden that it's actually been a little chilly in the morning if you call lows in the 60's chilly.
And there is always lots to do in Charleston during the fall season which runs through New Year's Day. Then we'll have our little winter season and depending on how warm winter is, spring flower and blooms will get started anytime from late February to early March. Spring will get started and that is probably Charleston's busiest time with more activities and events than any other time of year ending with The Spoleto Festival in early June. Summer heat will start to pick up but June and July are hot and dry and then we have the two reasons that no one should move to Charleston. Their names are August and September.
I've actually worked with clients who really wanted to get to know the area before making the move to retire here and several actually visited every 3 months over the course of the year to get a real sense of how the weather was throughout the year. But if you really want to move to Charleston, don't make your first trip in August, you might get off the airplane, shake my hand and want to turn right around and go home. But you'll miss much of what's really wonderful about living in the Lowcountry.