
Springtime
Spring is without
question the most beautiful season of the year. The second week of
March is the Charleston areas last official day
for frost. By this time of year, you will have already chatted
it up with plenty of your neighbors planting flowers and gardens. If you haven't
already completed
your
winter clean-up chores, well, now you are officially behind in your yard work.
The birds are singing and the sunshine is
beaming and everything is coming to life. It will only be a few more days before everything
is completely in full bloom. This is such an energized time of year here. The last
week of March or the first week in April is also the perfect time for visiting
Middleton Plantation.
This is
where you will find thousands and thousands of blooming Azaleas in America’s
oldest formal garden.
During the first Saturday in April, you will also find Summerville
celebrating their spring
Flowertown Festival. Among the huge white, purple,
pink and red Azalea bushes, you will find vendors selling jewelry, artwork, crafts,
sculptures and plants. You will also smell plenty of good food being
prepared by local restaurant owners.
The first Saturday in April also brings
twenty-five thousand runners and walkers to the prized
Cooper River Bridge
run. The "Last Cooper River Bridge Run" had over forty thousand
runners and walkers participating in the fun.
In May, the popular
Spoleto Festival
is celebrated
with world-renowned opera singers, musicians, actors, dancers and artists
performing at various historical venues such as the Dock Street Theater, Gaillard and The Gibbes Museum of Art.
Springtime also brings plenty of opportunity to buy fresh local produce at
local Farmers Markets and road side stands.
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Summertime-
Summer in Charleston is all about going to the beach. People
come here from all over the world to experience Charleston's great beaches.
The beaches are wide and hard packed which make them perfect for jogging,
walking or bike riding. While at the beach, you will always find a
nice Gulf Stream breeze coming off the Atlantic Ocean which will keep you
cool during your workout or while you sun bath.
The Atlantic Ocean breezes
in connection with the low elevation which is found here in the Charleston area helps keep the air flowing.
As a result, you will not find the air becoming stagnant and ultimately
causing poor air quality. Yes, this means no code red days!
The summer months
are no picnic by any stretch of the imagination and when it comes to heat and humidity, there is plenty of
it. The summer is long and will extend past your traditional labor day celebration. You will not find
it uncommon for the heat index to rise over 100 degrees. However, it generally is not a struggle to breath,
unlike other major cities. While living here, you will learn to move at a much slower
pace. Because after all it is the South. Did I mention?
You should make sure your air
conditioner works!
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Fall-
Fall weather
in Charleston doesn’t really start until the middle of November. There
will be days when you venture out wearing sandals and
soon realize
the temperatures are changing. Or you might forget to wear your
sweater one evening and feel the cool night air breeze nipping at your
nose. This is when the reality hits you and you slowly come to terms
with the realization
that cold man winter is arriving to Charleston. You will need to replace your wardrobe
consisting of shorts and t-shirts
with long pants and long sleeve shirts. This is generally done one
rainy weekend morning. The hot summer lawn grasses are starting to show their signs of winter dormancy.
The
leaves on the trees are showing their spectacular red, yellow and brown fall colors.
You have no choice now but to get out your winter garments because winter is fast approaching. You really need to make every last ditch effort to get
out and walk the beaches before it is becomes to cold. After all, you need
to burn a few calories off the waist line because Thanksgiving is just one
week away. During the month of December, you might even see a few nights
fast approaching
the freezing mark.
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Wintertime
The winter months in Charleston SC remind me very much
of the fall weather up north. The largest snow accumulation ever recorded
in Charleston was on December 24, 1989. Remember the other major weather
event in Charleston back on September 21, 1989? If you don't remember,
it goes by the name of Hugo. I guess
you can say
1989 was Charleston’s vintage year for weather. The December 1989 record snow fall had
your classic low pressure coming up off the Gulf of Mexico and hitting the
already present cold temperatures. This classic combination of high
pressure cold air meeting the low pressure's moisture air produced a record
eight inches of snow fall. It is known here by the locals as “The Christmas
Snow” of 1989. The Christmas Snow of 1989 broke all previous record
snow falls. The last record snowfall was 7.1 inches set back in
February, 1973.
Snow accumulation in Charleston is an anomaly. During each winter day, you have a 1-in-3000
chance of seeing some type of big snow event like these two prior record
snowfalls. Charleston will however get
minor snow accumulation once every five years. So, if you are
dreaming of a white Christmas in Charleston, “forget about it” stay up north. Although,
if you are really lucky, you might wake up to see some short lived snow
flakes falling from the sky Christmas day. Yes, there really is a
Santa Claus.
February is the end of winter and a big month for the local
oyster festivals
around town. The majority of money collected from the oyster festivals
will benefit local
charities and associations. You will not want to miss out on this
great fun.
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Tides-
The Atlantic Ocean’s high and low tides provide the
Charleston SC lowcountry with its over three hundred miles of beautiful
salt water marshes. These rising tides bring to life the lowcountry’s unique
ecosystem of birds, fish, crabs, oysters, clams and shrimp. You will always
find pleasure and enjoy watching a fiddler crab scamper into its hole of
safety located in the pluf mud.
The Atlantic Ocean’s currents and its high and low
tides provide the salt water marsh the
minerals and nutrients it needs to survive. Without the Ocean’s tides millions of creatures
wouldn’t call the lowcounty home. The biggest predator to the lowcountry’s
salt water marsh is man. You will see
land conservation groups
constantly fighting off real estate developers from intruding on these
precious acres of salt water marsh and wetlands. The protection for
these thousands of salt water marsh acres comes from the federal, state and
local governments as well as the much needed conservation groups.
The government’s Ocean and Coastal Resource Management
Office and the non-profit organization the Coastal Conservation League
continually monitor and protect Charleston’s “critical areas” and "setbacks" along its
miles of coastal wetlands. Their continued oversight guarantees that bridges, docks and
new homes will meet the required zoning standards and
strict guidelines defined by the current laws and regulations.
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Site Map |
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Mark Costello
- AgentOwned Realty |
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1400 Palm Blvd. |
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Isle of Palms, SC. 29451 |
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Cell
843.224.3233 - Fax 843.725.6532 |
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