Hurricanes and Tornadoes That Hit Mount Pleasant, SC

The nearest NOAA station with 1991–2020 climate normals is Sullivans Is, SC, 6 miles south of Mount Pleasant at 5 feet. July is the warmest, with an average high of 91°F and low of 73°F; January is the coolest, at 59°F and 37°F. August is the wettest at 6.7 inches of precipitation on average and November the driest at 3.0 inches; the year adds up to 51.6 inches. June to November, the hurricane season months, bring 59% of the year's precipitation (30.5 of 51.6 inches); the other six months are drier. September has brought the most of the 115 tropical systems that passed within 75 miles (36); a normal September there has highs of 86°F and 5.5 inches of precipitation. Highs reach 90°F on about 55 days a year, almost all from May to September. Lows fall below freezing on about 18 nights a year. That 51.6 inches is more than at 59 of the 78 South Carolina stations used on this site (76%). Daniel Island, 6 miles northwest, has its own station (Charleston International Airport, SC): 52.7 inches a year, 1.1 more than here, and the same July average high, 91°F.

Water temperature at the NOAA tide station Charleston, SC, 7 miles southwest, averaged 86°F in July and 54°F in January over 2021–2025. It averaged 80°F or warmer from June to September. Sea level at the Charleston tide gauge, 7 miles from Mount Pleasant, has risen 1.38 ± 0.04 inches per decade from 1901 to 2025, NOAA's linear trend; at that pace it is 13.8 inches in a hundred years. That is faster than at 82 of the 144 U.S. gauges with a NOAA trend.

Since 1996, the National Weather Service has logged 412 flood, rain, thunderstorm wind and lightning events that began within 10 miles of Mount Pleasant: 196 flash floods, 189 thunderstorm wind reports, 21 lightning strikes, 3 floods and 3 heavy rain events. They killed 1 person and injured 8, and the NWS estimated $8.9 million in property and crop damage. The strongest thunderstorm gust on record here was 82 mph, on May 9, 1997. August has had the most flash floods, 78 of 196. Of the 241 South Carolina cities on this site with a flash flood on record, 234 have had fewer than Mount Pleasant.

Flood insurance policyholders in Mount Pleasant's 2 ZIP codes have filed 1,989 claims with the National Flood Insurance Program since 1978, and were paid $22.1 million for buildings and contents, in the dollars of each year. The most came from Hurricane Hugo in 1989: 1,147 claims (58% of all) and $17.1 million, then October severe storms in 2015 with 109 and Flooding in 1994 with 99. 78% of the claims carry the name of a storm or flood event; the rest have no event name. Of the 110 South Carolina cities on this site with 10 or more claims, 102 have fewer than Mount Pleasant.