page_title: Climate of South Carolina
section_title: Tropical cyclones
hierarchical_section_title: Climate of South Carolina / Precipitation / Tropical cyclones
caption_attribution_description: Hurricane Hugo near landfall on September 21 at 1844 UTC. This image was produced from data from NOAA-11, provided by NOAA.
context_page_description: South Carolina has a humid subtropical climate, with hot summers throughout most of the State. Mild winters predominate in the eastern and southern part of the state, but cool to occasionally cold winters are the standard in the northwestern area of the state, especially areas at or above 600 feet in elevation. On average, between 40 and 80 inches of precipitation falls annually across the state. Tropical cyclones, and afternoon thunderstorms due to hot and humid conditions, contribute to precipitation during the summer and sometimes fall months, while extratropical cyclones contribute to precipitation during the fall, winter, and spring months. The coast experiences nearly all of their tropical weather impacts from storms coming directly from the Atlantic coast. The northwestern area of the state can receive impacts from both Atlantic basin storms moving westward from the coast and also occasionally very heavy rainfall and flooding from storms originating from the Gulf of Mexico that move inland towards the northeast after making landfall from the Florida Panhandle to Louisiana.
context_section_description: The state is prone to tropical cyclones. This is an annual concern during hurricane season, which is from June through November.  The peak time of vulnerability for the southeast Atlantic coast is from early August to early October when tropical cyclone frequency is highest.  Major hurricanes can impact the Palmetto state, though there are no category 5 impacts on record.  Two of the stronger hurricanes to strike South Carolina in recent times are Hurricane Hazel (1954) and Hurricane Hugo (1989), which were of category 4 strength.  For weaker systems, rainfall and spin-up tornadoes in the outer bands are the main impacts to the state.  The wettest known tropical cyclone to impact South Carolina was a tropical depression named Jerry in 1995 which stalled nearby and had previously been a tropical storm across Florida.  Jerry brought nearly 19 inches (480 mm) of rainfall to upstate South Carolina.
caption: Hurricane Hugo (1989)
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