Columbus County News Weather Update for Saturday October 10, 2026.
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Here’s today’s Bottom Line
WEATHER ALERT DAY TODAY & TONIGHT
The remnants of formidable Hurricane Isaias continue to push north well west of our area. High pressure off to our northeast will push in a southeasterly flow off the Atlantic ocean, easily enhancing the moisture that will already be advancing up the coast.
Most of the guidance suggests 2-4 inches of rainfall, with highest amounts near the coast. Some guidance suggests as much as 6-8 inches of rain could fall, with some 10-inch amounts just offshore.
The NWS WPC has placed the coastal plain and extreme southeast Piedmont under a 15% to 39% risk for rainfall exceeding flash flood guidance.
Because of these factors, the National Weather Service in Wilmington has issued a FLOOD WATCH for the coastal counties as well as Columbus and inland Horry county.
There will also be the potential for tornadoes, as is the case in any landfalling tropical system. The Storm Prediction Center has the area under a level 1 risk for isolated tornadoes for Saturday afternoon through early Sunday.
Deep drying will rapidly occur later Sunday with a cold front passage, which may kick off a broken line of supercell thunderstorms with another tornado potential.
High pressure then builds in for much of the rest of the coming work week.
BUST POTENTIAL / FORECAST CONFIDENCE: There is something of a bust potential with this system, and a lack of trust in the modeling on my part.
Modeling has “over-produced” or “over-hyped” the past few storm systems that have moved through. The typical suite of models that I use and rely on just haven’t been heavy-hitters this season. They’re about as reliable and dependable as the Atlanta Braves in the postseason.
Therefore I am reluctant to jump fully on-board with high-end rainfall totals. Furthermore, higher rain totals will be dependent on the placement of enhanced rain bands, which is impossible to predict right up until they are occurring.
My forecast confidence, therefore, is “high-medium.” I am fairly certain much of Saturday, Saturday night, and early Sunday will be rainy … periods of rain anyway … with some gusty breezes at times … and possibly some thunder.
It’s going to be a cloudy, dreary, rainy weekend. If you’ve been begging for some downtime, here it is, gift-wrapped for you.
Here is your Freedom Insurance Today-plus-Five Forecast:
–Meteorologist Christopher Cawley
