It Was So Cold In South Carolina In 1977, Temperatures Stayed At Or Below 40 Degrees For 30 Days
By AnneMarie|Published December 28, 2022
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AnneMarie
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South Carolina has been home for AnneMarie since 2001. Her favorite part of the state is Lake Jocassee. An App State alumna, it's always the mountains; the lake bonus makes it heavenly. When not writing about the state, she may be spending time with family, relaxing by the pool, or out somewhere enjoying nature.
Brrrr! 30 days of at or below 40 degrees in South Carolina?! That’s right. The year of 1977 brought long stretches of really cold winter weather in South Carolina.
We’re so blessed in South Carolina to enjoy mild winters most years. Seeing wildlife out sunning on a nice winter day is common in places like our beautiful state parks.
One of those times was during 1977, when parts of South Carolina saw stretches of days with temperatures at or below 40 degrees. During the month of January, there were only four days in the Greenville-Spartanburg area of the state that made it above 40 degrees.
Two of those days the high was only 41 degrees, with the other two days reaching 42 and 47 degrees. And while our friends north of us would welcome these winter highs and be perfectly fine wearing short sleeves outdoors, some of us bundle up even indoors to stay warm.
Greenville and Spartanburg, located in the northwestern corner, Upstate area of South Carolina, average cooler temperatures than the Midlands and Lowcountry areas and are more likely to get some snowfall during any given winter. This scene was captured at our beautiful Caesars Head State Park in the Upstate, which is actually where the coldest temperature on record for South Carolina was recorded.
Regardless of how cold it was in any part of South Carolina, it was absolutely brutal for other parts of the country. For example, it was so cold north of us that The Ohio River froze! People were filmed walking over it. The temperature stayed below zero for 58 straight hours, leading to pipes bursting and car batteries dying.
Our approach to weather in South Carolina is this: If you don’t like the weather, give it a day or two and it will change! Thankfully, longer periods of extremes are not the norm, and our milder climate is what often attracts people to move or retire here.
In the meantime, take the opportunity to enjoy some of our beloved South Carolina-born she-crab soup to stay warm and don’t forget to drip your pipes if you’re newer to South Carolina and get accustomed to the milder winters!
We gathered the South Carolina winter temperature data from the National Weather Service. What do you think about the weather in South Carolina? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below!
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