#1Hilton Head Island
Beaufort County · 38,196 peopleJanuary low·July high 90°·13 freezing nights a year
Hilton Head Island, #1 on this list · Photo: Locust member · CC BY 4.0South Carolina rankings · Climate
Towns with the mildest winters in South Carolina
Hilton Head Island has the mildest winters of South Carolina’s 163 towns of 2,500+: January nights average a low of 41° (NOAA 1991–2020 normals). The typical town here averages 34°; 136 of the 163 stay above freezing.
The average January low. NOAA U.S. Climate Normals, 1991–2020, from NOAA’s 5 km grid at each town’s center; one town for each grid cell. A described list: no letters. How grades work
#141°
#2James Island
Charleston County · 12,660 peopleJanuary low·July high 90°·6 freezing nights a year
#T3Mount Pleasant
Charleston County · 95,469 peopleJanuary low·July high 90°·6 freezing nights a year
All 163 towns
January low, highest first. Towns with the same figure share a rank (T = tied; 133 towns here).
163 towns ranked. Not here? See why a town may be missing.
#TownJanuary lowNights ≤32°July high
Quick answers
Questions people ask
Which South Carolina town has the mildest winters?
Hilton Head Island (Beaufort County): January nights average a low of 41°. James Island (41°) and Mount Pleasant (41°) follow.
How are these towns ranked?
By the average January low (the coldest month’s nights), highest first, on NOAA’s 1991–2020 normals, read from its 5 km grid at each town’s center. Towns with the same figure share a rank (T); the figure and the state rank are the ones on each town’s Climate page. How grades work.
Why isn’t my town on this list?
The list covers towns of 2,500+ residents, one for each of NOAA’s 5 km grid cells (163 in South Carolina): where towns share a cell, one of them stands for it, since the grid gives them the same figures. Every town’s own figures are on its Climate page. Every town is on the South Carolina page.
Go deeper
All South Carolina rankings →More South Carolina lists
Every list ranks the same 2,500+ towns, so a town’s rank means the same thing on each.
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