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It’s no question that the Carolinas are hot during the summer, but just how hot has this year been in Myrtle Beach?
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Dangerous heat engulfed the Grand Strand and surrounding cities this week, heat that’s well above normal for this time of year, according to Meteorologist Rachel Zouzias with the National Weather Service in Wilmington, North Carolina.
Temperatures are forecasted to reach highs around 94 or 95 degrees this week, and the average high sits right around 90 degrees in Myrtle Beach for this time of year. But temperatures have not reached record highs for the area.
The hottest day in Myrtle Beach peaked at 104 degrees in 1952.
However, temperatures in eastern South Carolina have increased 1.5 to 2 degrees above where they were 100 years ago, a direct result of climate change caused by carbon dioxide being released in the atmosphere from human activity, Lead Meteorologist Tim Armstrong with the NWS in Wilmington said.
“That doesn’t really sound like a lot, but it means that the occurrence of really high temperatures, like 95, 100 degrees where you start getting into some dangerous territories, happens more frequently than it did in the past,” he said.
The Myrtle Beach area has seen 11 heat advisories this year, meaning heat indexes reached above 105 degrees. Two extreme heat warnings have been issued, heat indexes above 110 degrees, which is unusual as there have been years when the area hasn’t seen one. The length of time the high temperatures are lasting is also uncommon.
“Once you get more than about two or three days in a row where we’re hitting those heat index values of above 105, anything more than that would be considered unusual, in my opinion,” Armstrong said.
What is a heat wave?
Heat waves are caused by a ridge of high pressure aloft, which is air that is sinking.
“As the air sinks and warms, and of course with so much sunlight this time of the year, unless you can get clouds to kind of reflect a little bit of that sun back out, you’re going to continue to heat the atmosphere day, day after day after day,” Armstrong said.
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The heat wave Myrtle Beach is experiencing this week is the same ridge over New York and Philadelphia from last week that traveled south, he said.
How are repeated heat waves impacting the drought?
Horry County’s severe drought is largely caused by a lack of rainfall, nearly 9.5 inches less than normal from January to May according to the U.S. drought monitor. However, the added heat element is only exacerbating conditions.
“No locations in South Carolina have reached extreme drought status since February 2009. However, there are concerns (that) parts of South Carolina may reach the extreme drought status this summer with the persistent pattern of below-normal rainfall and extreme heat,” a release from the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources said.
“The higher the temperatures are, the faster evaporation occurs,” Armstrong said. “It is a self-reinforcing process, it seems like, where drought and heat sort of go hand in hand in the summertime.”
Grand Strand Water and Sewer Authority, Horry County’s main water utility, recently implemented a drought management plan for the first time since its founding in the early 1970s. Customers will have to pay an excess water usage charge beginning at 6,000 gallons instead of the normal 8,000 gallon threshold.
Customers will pay $1.59 per 1,000 gallons for the first 6,000 gallons of use, The Sun News previously reported. After that, the next 1,000 gallons, up to 7,000, will incur a rate of $1.75 and $1.92 usage rate for up to 8,000 gallons. Prices will continue to increase with greater water usage.
Grand Strand Water CEO Christy Holder said previous droughts have not triggered a drought management plan because fewer households were irrigating during those periods. As communities are rapidly developing in Horry County, more irrigation systems are installed, which are a heavy demand on the utility’s water source.
Both the City of Myrtle Beach and the City of North Myrtle Beach have asked customers to limit non-essential water use during severe drought conditions.
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