COLUMBIA, S.C. — We reached 54 degrees early this morning in Columbia. That changed pretty quickly once the cold front moved in around 5:50 a.m. this morning.
Since then, we have seen winds gusting from 40 to 50 mph with temperatures falling into the 30s. This is a sign of the bitter cold on the way in and has led to some issues this morning.
According to Poweroutage.us, there were close to 80,000 people without power in the Palmetto State as of 8:15 a.m. this morning. This number will likely rise as we see gusty winds continue to knock down trees across the area.
Taking a look at the area there are not only trees down impacting holiday travel but also some traffic lights seeing issues due to the high winds so far today.
On top of the windy conditions, temperatures will likely be below freezing once we get to the afternoon. This will cause the wind chill to be right around 15 to 20 degrees during the day. The National Weather Service has issued a Wind Chill advisory that will go into effect later tonight and last through Saturday morning.
On Saturday morning, our temperatures are expected to plummet to the coldest we have seen since 2015. Wind chill values will likely be around zero degrees if not below zero to start the day.
Looking at the forecast for Christmas Eve day, the morning will be so cold we will likely set the record low and high for the coldest Christmas Eve on record in Columbia. We do see a very slight warmup on Christmas day. Temperatures will be in the mid-teens with highs slightly above freezing in the afternoon. Winds will be calmer so there will be no wind chill concerns.
