Finally some drier air moving into the area.  Heavy rain on Friday canceled high school football, flooded several parts of the Lowcountry, and pretty much made a mess of everything.  Over 6 inches of rain was recorded at the Charleston International Airport and over 5 and a half here at WCSC in West Ashley.  Rainfall totals like this were quite common across the region as an area of low pressure moved northeast out of the Gulf of Mexico and across South Carolina.  This low is now moving into the Mid Atlantic and will allow for high pressure to build in here for the remainder of the weekend.  We’ll see some sun later today, but Sunday looks really nice with clear skies and highs in the mid 70s. 

Some very chilly air is now making its way into the northern Plains today and will sweep into the Southeast by midweek.  This will be the coolest air so far this fall.  Temperatures on Wednesday and Thursday will barely get into the 60s while overnight lows dip into the 30s.  Frost is likely away from the coast thus bringing the growing season to an end by Thursday.  The weather at least looks dry for the upcoming week, but once again temperatures will be well below normal starting Wednesday.

Hey the Coastal Carolina Fair starts on Thursday, October 30th.  Hope everyone will get a chance to visit the Live 5 house as we will be broadcasting live every night except on Election Day.  That’s it for now.  Don’t forget, Live 5 News in HD will be on tonight at 7 right after the Georgia and LSU matchup.  See you then and have a great weekend !!

Brad

The weather has been so beautiful lately as we head around to schools and functions in the Lowcountry.  We spent some wonderful time with the kids at Pinewood Prep in Summerville as they checked out the Storm Tracker while Scott and I talked about weather and science education.

We also had some great visits to Summerville High School, Eutawville, Goose Creek and West Ashley as students look ahead to their future and our weather team talks about careers and other issues at local schools.

I will be on the road Thursday to the new Cottageville Elementary School in Colleton county while Scott hits the road on Friday to St. James School. 

Thanks to all the teachers and students who invite us out and always make us feel right at home.

Had a board meeting of the Ronald McDonald House today.  Like all businesses, the economy is making it tough to keep the house love built running; so any help is always appreciated.  Check out the website at:

www.rmhcharleston.org

Great people there keeping our house open for those families of sick children.  We’ll have a great Lights of Love program coming up on November 17th and we hope you can join us.

Some rain on the forecast that we’ll bring to you tonight in High Definition!   I hope you can join us for the early broadcasts and back again before you go to bed for a live update at 11.

Bill 

Well, we’ve been asked for days about when the cooler, fall weather will be here.  The answer is Saturday!

Look for a big change in temperature over the weekend with a cooler airmass coming our way in the form of a potent cold front by late Friday night and early Saturday morning.

Once the front moves east, we’ll see the cool down with highs only in the upper 60’s Saturday and lows by Sunday morning in the upper 40’s well inland.

Quiet weather day here in the Storm Center.  Busy with some school visits and on the road again on Friday to Pinewood Prep in Summerville.  The College of Charleston students will also pay us a visit later today. 

The Race for the Cure is this Saturday on Daniel Island and our friend Richard Todd from NewsTALK 1250, WTMA will be hosting the event as thousands run and walk for breast cancer.  Our best to Richard’s wife, Mary as she battles the dreaded disease and is a great example of fighting this and pushing folks for early detection.

The race may have a few showers, but runners like the cooler weather for this sort of outing. 

Well, it’s time to get ready for tonight’s broadcast and we hope you join us for the early shows and right back here before you go to bed for an update on your Friday weather at 11 p.m.

Have a great night and Friday!

Bill

I have been away from the blog this week and part of last; so wanted to catch you up on a few things happening here and our weather, which continues delightful!

First the weather…

What can I say but just gorgeous!  High pressure is built in and will keep us with wonderful weather into the end of the week until a strong cold front moves east and brings some fall weather back for the weekend.  Showers are possible late Friday and early Saturday.  The rest of the weekend looks good, but cooler.

Now the other stuff!  Busy over the weekend working here on the Sunday broadcast and on last Thursday and Friday working on the Presidential visit for the Air Force.  It’s always a lot of fun, but very busy when the President visits the base and area.  We have done this many times here and in other places as part of our job at the base and it’s a lot of detail work.  Always good to see the President, no matter what your politics, in person and take part in the logistics of a visit.  It never ceases to amaze me the size and beauty of Air Force One.  It’s a great looking airplane when you see it on TV and even more impressive in person.  We also had the First Lady in town arriving on another of the 89th Airlift Squadron’s “blue and white” jets.  This visit kept me rather busy last week.

Over the weekend I had the chance to visit the South Carolina Aquarium and saw their new exhibits which are wonderful.  The “Camp Carolina” exhibit features a gorgeous bald eagle named “Liberty.”  Definitely worth the stop and a picture. 

With the quiet weather, it’s nice to get outside.  I was driving to the television station and heard a great, loud “crack” and looked up and saw that a rock cracked the windshield!  Kind of shocking when you’re not ready for the noise; but thankfully, covered under insurance!  Seems like all windshields are covered if you live in South Carolina.  That’s good news.  Our friends at Glass Pro filled me in on that fact. 

Gas prices are coming down.  That’s also good news.  We’ll keep you posted with our price watch segments on Channel 5. 

Had lunch with Jim Beard, the manager of our Citadel cluster of radio stations.  Great lunch and some exciting things happening at The WOLF 96.9, 1250 WTMA, Z-93 Jamz, Magic 107.3  and 95SX.   Catch us every morning on all of these radio stations. 

Well, time for the broadcast.  We’re out and about at some local schools this week and will bring you some pictures from those visits.  Send us an email if you would like to book a visit by one of our meteorologists and the StormTRACKER.

Hope you join us tonight during the evening and right back here before you go to bed on Live 5 News at 11. 

Have a great night and super Wednesdsay!

Bill

Another wet day for the Lowcountry looks to be on the way.  An area of low pressure located just off the Georgia coast will continue to feed moisture into the region.  This means more clouds and rain for us on Sunday.  High pressure will begin to build into the area by Monday and that will provide us with a nice stretch of weather later in the week.

While it is the weekend, this rain is very beneficial.  Rainfall for the year is still about 7 inches below normal.  However, our rain deficit is nothing compared to the drought like conditons that continue across the upstate and other areas around the southeast.

Tropics still quiet for now, but we may have a few areas to monitor heading into the new week.  Enjoy your Sunday and catch the Live 5 Weather Team now in HD each and every newscast .

Brad

After a very nice stretch of weather, it looks like showers and storms will be around over the next few days. A slow moving upper level low will keep things unsettled unfortunately into the weekend. Right now it looks like Sunday will be drier than Saturday, but it doesn’t look like we’ll see weather like we saw last weekend.

Tropics still on the quiet side and we don’t see much on the horizon over the next few days. Remember, hurricane season continues through November.

Just a quick update tonight. Chad is back in the StormCenter in the morning and I’ll catch everyone this weekend. Hopefully, I’ll have better news on the forecast. Have a great Friday !!

You can usually count on some of the best weather of the year across the Lowcountry in early and mid October.  Low humidity, comfortable temperatures, and not much going on in the tropics.  This week won’t be much different.  We’ve enjoyed some nice afternoons lately while overnight lows have been generally in the 50s.  We may see a few showers later this week, but for the most part, looks like we are setting up for a dry pattern across the area over the next week or so.  This is typical for October as the overall weather pattern begins it’s transition from summer to winter.  Storm tracks remain well north of the region, while deep tropical moisture is supressed well to the south. 

Just got back from Disney on Friday.  Still the happiest place on Earth.  The parks were relatively quiet.  Not sure if it was just the right time to go or if the economy is really that bad.  Anyway, as with any vacation, it was fun, but you’re always glad to be back home.  That’s it for today.  Enjoy some great football on the Mighty 5 and don’t forget, all of our newscasts are now in HD.  What a difference !!  Have a great Sunday night and Monday !!

Brad

Wow…9/29 is here and so is High Definition!!  We are so proud of our company and engineering team to make LIVE 5 NEWS the FIRST high definition news product in the Lowcountry.

This is a step forward into the future of television.  First there was black & white, then color, now high definition. 

Our company spent millions, literally, to make us the first to cross this threshold.  Our weather is now clearer, bigger and the best looking technology available.  We are committed to bringing you the best storm coverage in the Southeast and now in H.D.!

We hope you join us for the broadcasts tonight.  I will be in the new HD control room at 7 and 11!  That should be fun.  We even have new make-up to wear.  They had to teach us to use a “make up gun!”  I was afraid I would shoot make-up all over the dressing room.  Thankfully, I only shot it on the mirror and some on myself! 

Remember, DTV is different from HD.  DTV is “digital television” and refers to the actual signal that carries our station.  HD is the “quality” of the picture and much more fine and crisp with real life colors and looks.

We’ll see you tonight, in HIGH DEFINITION!

Bill

Seems like Fall was right on schedule this year!  We’ve been much cooler than normal.  Our normal high is 84 and we’ve been in the 60’s with clouds and windy conditions. 

Look for this coastal storm to move inland tonight.  The storm is not tropical as such because it’s more of a “cold core” storm similar to a “noreaster.”  A tropical system is warm core and the convection and energy rotates around the center or core of the storm.  In this case, the energy fans out and is not central to the core. 

Bottom line is that it’s still a big mess for the beaches and the rivers with beach erostion, higher tides and gusty winds.  Should be weakening into the end of the week and better weather is on the way for the weekend!

 Busy visiting schools and meetings.  The schools are much more fun than the meetings! lol

Looking forward to some high school football on Friday night and the college games into the weekend which should be good as far as weather.  Might have to jump in the boat for a bit this weekend as well.

Time to get ready for the broadcast which we hope you join us for tonight during the evening shows and back here again before you go to bed at 11!  LIVE 5 NEWS in HIGH DEFINITION is just days away starting on Monday!!

Best…

Bill

A coastal storm developing east of Wilmington, North Carolina will keep things on the windy side for the next 24 to 48 hours as it drifts west.  This is not tropical as of yet, but may become a tropical or subtropical system as it drifts westward. 

We’ll see windy conditions, beach erosion, high tides and strong rip currents.  Thursday will bring a better chance of showers, especially along the north coastal counties.  Highs will be in the lower to mid 70’s.

We will keep you advised on this storm here and on the air during our broadcasts tonight.

Busy couple of days with Air Force duty and Channel 5 weathercasts.  The Charleston Air Force Base honored our POW/MIA’s over the last few days and was a great tribute to those who served and suffered for our country and freedoms.  I was honored to meet some of these great people and wish them well.  It’s important that we take care of our veterans and our local VA does a fantastic job at that.

Getting ready to go “HD” on Monday!!  That means if you have a high definition television, you will see a great difference in the picture quality of our newscasts.  We will be the FIRST station to go “HD” in the Charleston market.  It really is an amazing difference when you look at HD.  We even had to have special make-up lessons and they gave us these little spray guns to spray the stuff on your face.  They’re small, little devices that use a power box and spray a “make-up mist” all over the face.  In Bill Sharpe’s case, we had to get him a Wagner Power Sprayer!! 

Should be fun on Monday with the new look, logo and HD.  Hope you tune in for that and, of course, tonight as we keep track of that pesty coastal storm.

Have a great night!

Bill