Columbus County NEWS Weather Update for Wednesday July 8, 2026.
This weather update is sponsored by Freedom Insurance of Whiteville. Trust Freedom Insurance to give you clear blue skies when it comes to home, car, boat, or whatever insurance you need. Let Freedom provide customized coverage to keep you and your family safe. Contact Freedom today at 910-640-2828!
Here’s today’s Bottom Line
The great heat wave of 2026 continues today (and Thursday… and Friday… and Saturday).
High pressure ridging will strengthen once again later this afternoon, and especially for Thursday and Friday. The ridge then starts to weaken over the weekend, allowing some more disturbances to push down from the northwest. This sets the stage for increased thunderstorm activity over the weekend. Northwesterly flows this time of year usually set the stage for rounds of strong to severe thunderstorms, so we’ll need to watch that trend carefully going into next week.
Someone asked why the storms yesterday weren’t severe. A storm is classified as “severe” only if it contains 58 mph wind gusts and/or quarter-size hail. Lightning frequency and intensity, and rainfall intensity, play no role in whether or not a storm is classified as severe. There’s no such thing as a “lightning warning,” although someone could make the case for lightning warnings since some of the storms over South Carolina yesterday produced lightning counts into the thousands.
So… the heat continues unabated into the weekend. Ain’t it great?
Here is your Freedom Insurance Today-plus-Five Forecast:
–Meteorologist Christopher Cawley
