![]() NPS Photo - Davey Allen Hot, Wet, & StormyThe Lowcountry (coastal region of Georgia & South Carolina) in the 17th and 18th centuries was a wild, dangerous subtropical wilderness for European colonists. The citizens of Charleston (founded 1670) and Savannah (founded 1733) had to contend with a harsh environment which posed continual problems of heat, humidity, and hurricanes. Lowcountry winters are short (December to February typically), and springs/summers are quite long. Breezy conditions near coastal waters have a moderating effect on temperatures, so heat and cold tend to be less extreme compared to inland regions. The subtropical climate of the Lowcountry region also greatly exacerbated the spread among colonists of such diseases as yellow fever, malaria, smallpox, and typhus. The average annual rainfall ranges from 30 to 50 inches in the island regions. A large high pressure cell, called the Bermuda high, affects the Southeast in summer months. The Bermuda high diverts large continental storms away from the Lowcountry. Summer rains in the Lowcountry tend to result from local convection storms as a result. These convection storms don’t always produce rainfall, however; periods of summer drought are not uncommon. When summers draw to a close, so too does the Bermuda high. This exposes the Lowcountry region to large, frontal storm systems which can produce tropical storms and hurricanes. NPS Photo - Davey Allen References A Guide to a Georgia Barrier Island, Schoettle, Watermarks Publishing (1996) Lowcountry Hurricanes, Fraser, University of Georgia Press (2006) Saltmarsh Ecology, Adam, Cambridge University Press (1990) |
Last updated: January 23, 2021