Farewell warm weather. Conditions are going to change in the Rock Hill region
A late-season tropical storm is forecast to bring rain to the Rock Hill region on Friday, and meteorologists say that system will be followed by a pattern-changing blast of cold air.
The rain threat already has impacted the schedule for this week’s prep football state playoffs.
And by this time next week, temperatures across the region are predicted to be near mid-January levels. Long-range computer guidance indicates the cold weather will hang around.
Record-breaking heat
On Monday, the Rock Hill region experienced record-breaking heat.
Temperature reached 80 degrees in Rock Hill, breaking the Nov. 7 record of 79, set in 1915 and equaled in 1975.
That could be the last time we see 80 degrees until 2023.
Cold temperatures on the way
National Weather Service meteorologists say the overall pattern across the United States will change. A big dip in the jet stream will allow much colder air to blast into the eastern half of the country.
The first step in the change was expected to begin Tuesday, when high pressure over the Great Lakes and Northeast pushed cooler air into the Carolinas. High temperatures Tuesday are forcast for the upper 60s in the Rock Hill region, forecasters say.
It will be even cooler Wednesday with highs only in the low 60s.
Then comes the rain
By later Thursday, forecasters say, the Rock Hill region will begin dealing with Nicole, a subtropical storm that is expected to make landfall in east-central Florida on Wednesday.
The National Hurricane Center predicts Nicole, with top winds near hurricane force, will cross the Florida peninsula, emerge briefly in the Gulf of Mexico and then be picked up by the big trough and carried northward.
The center of Nicole is forecast to move through the Carolinas on Friday. Forecasters say the storm’s rain shield will expand by that time, spreading a steady, soaking rain across the Rock Hill region and most of the Carolinas.
“It will provide the area with much-needed rainfall,” says National Weather Service meteorologist Clay Chaney, noting that drought conditions have been building across the western Carolinas.
Chaney says ½-1½ inches of rain are likely in the western Carolinas, with heavier amounts possible near the Interstate-77 corridor.
Exact rainfall totals will depend on the track of the storm, Chaney says.
“But a washout seems evident for Friday, especially in the Piedmont,” he says.
Breezy conditions also are forecast, although wind damage is not expected in the Rock Hill region.
Nicole will race rapidly to the northeast, and sunshine is forecast to return Saturday as a cold front moves through. Colder air will begin funneling into the area Saturday night, with temperatures dropping to the 30s by Sunday morning.
The new pattern will be very evident Sunday. Despite full sunshine, high temperatures are only expected to reach the lower 50s. And Monday’s high is only forecast to hit 50 degrees.
The long-range outlook calls for temperatures to be below average in all of the United States – except Alaska, Florida and Maine – for the two weeks leading to Thanksgiving.
Some forecasters say computer models indicate the cold weather could last into early December.
This story was originally published November 8, 2022 at 8:47 AM.