South Carolina is situated along the Atlantic coast, making it susceptible to tropical cyclones. The state’s vulnerability is primarily confined to the official Atlantic hurricane season, which begins on June 1st and concludes on November 30th each year. During this six-month period, warm ocean waters and favorable atmospheric conditions can generate powerful storms that threaten the coastline.
Statistical Frequency and Averages
South Carolina has experienced a significant number of direct hits from tropical cyclones over the historical record. Since 1851, 45 tropical cyclones have made landfall directly on the state’s coast. This historical data indicates that a tropical cyclone of any strength makes landfall in South Carolina approximately once every four to five years.
Considering only hurricanes, the frequency decreases. A hurricane landfall on the South Carolina coast occurs, on average, once every seven years. This historical average represents a direct hit, though the state is impacted by passing storms far more often, with a tropical cyclone affecting the state about seven out of every eight years.
Major hurricanes, classified as Category 3 or higher on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, are significantly rarer events. Only four Category 3 or 4 hurricanes have made landfall in South Carolina since 1851: the 1893 Great Charleston Hurricane, Hurricane Hazel (1954), Hurricane Gracie (1959), and Hurricane Hugo (1989). This historical record suggests a major hurricane landfall occurs roughly once every 33 years.
Geographical Distribution of Landfalls
The risk of a direct tropical cyclone landfall is not evenly distributed across the South Carolina coastline. Historical data indicates a higher concentration of landfalls in the southern coastal region, often referred to as the Lowcountry, which includes the Charleston and Beaufort areas. Since 1851, Charleston County alone has recorded 17 landfalls.
This concentration is partially due to the geography of the coastline, which creates a slight projection that attracts storms tracking northward along the eastern seaboard. The northern coast, including the Grand Strand area around Myrtle Beach, has historically seen fewer direct landfalls.
The southern region, particularly the barrier islands near Charleston and Beaufort, frequently experiences the full force of a storm’s wind and surge. The northern coast, while having fewer landfalls, remains highly vulnerable to the northern eyewall quadrant of storms making landfall just across the state border in North Carolina. This quadrant often produces significant storm surge and wind damage in the Grand Strand area.
Historical Context of Major Storms
Hurricane Hugo in September 1989 exemplified the severity of high-magnitude, infrequent events. It made landfall near Sullivan’s Island as a Category 4 storm with estimated sustained winds of 140 miles per hour. Hugo produced the highest recorded storm tide on the U.S. East Coast, with a surge reaching 20.2 feet near McClellanville. The storm’s rapid movement and intensity allowed it to maintain hurricane-force winds far inland, causing widespread destruction to forests and infrastructure across 23 counties.
Decades earlier, Hurricane Hazel struck in October 1954, making landfall near the North Carolina border as a Category 4 hurricane. Hazel’s storm surge was estimated at 18 feet near the landfall point, effectively pulverizing the immediate waterfront of the Grand Strand. Though the storm was fast-moving, its rapid passage and intensity caused catastrophic damage to the northern coast.
More recently, the impact of Hurricane Florence in 2018 demonstrated that a storm does not need to make landfall as a major hurricane to be catastrophic. Florence made landfall in North Carolina as a Category 1 hurricane, but its extremely slow movement caused it to stall over the Carolinas. This resulted in catastrophic freshwater flooding in northeastern South Carolina, where the town of Loris recorded a state-record rainfall of 23.63 inches. These historical events illustrate that South Carolina faces multiple hazard types, from the wind and surge of fast-moving intense storms to the devastating rainfall and inland flooding from slower systems.