Myrtle Beach
Myrtle Beach Geography & Climate
Geography
Myrtle Beach lies on the South Carolina coast at the centre of the Grand Strand, a nearly continuous arc of beach running about 100 kilometres from the North Carolina line to Winyah Bay.
An unusual shore
Unlike most of the American east coast, this stretch has no chain of barrier islands separated from the mainland by a wide sound. The sand sits directly against the mainland for much of its length, which is why the beach is continuous, the access is easy and the development could run along it without bridges. The shore also faces south-east into a shallow bight, which shelters it from the worst Atlantic swell and keeps the water calmer than at comparable latitudes.
Behind the sand
A narrow ridge of dune and maritime forest — live oak, palmetto, wax myrtle, which gave the town its name — and then flat, wet country of blackwater swamp and pocosin. The Waccamaw river runs parallel to the coast a few kilometres inland.
The Lowcountry
South of Murrells Inlet the coast changes: salt marsh, tidal creeks and the old rice fields of the Waccamaw and Pee Dee deltas, engineered into embanked squares in the eighteenth century and now largely reverted.
Low and flat
Almost nothing here is more than ten metres above sea level.
Blackwater
The Waccamaw and the creeks behind the coast run dark as strong tea, stained by tannins leached from decaying vegetation in the swamps they drain rather than by any pollutant. The water is acidic and clear, and the cypress and tupelo that grow in it stand on buttressed trunks with knees projecting above the surface.
Erosion
The beach is renourished by dredging periodically; without it the sand would not stay.
Climate patterns
Myrtle Beach has a humid subtropical climate softened in both directions by the Atlantic.
Summer
June to September is hot and humid, with highs of 31 to 32°C and nights around 23°C. The sea breeze makes the beach appreciably more comfortable than a few kilometres inland, which is the whole point of the place. Afternoon thunderstorms build most days and pass quickly.
Sea temperature
This is the practical detail for most visitors: the water warms to around 22°C by late May, reaches 28°C in August, and is still about 25°C in early October. That long warm season is why the resort works.
Winter
December to February is mild: highs of 14 to 16°C and lows around 3°C, with plenty of sun. Frost occurs inland; snow is very rare and shuts everything when it comes.
Hurricanes
The season runs June to November and peaks between August and October. Direct landfalls here are relatively uncommon because of the coast’s orientation, but near misses bring storm surge, beach loss and evacuation orders, and inland flooding from stalled systems has been severe in recent years.
Why it is milder than inland
The ocean holds its temperature far more steadily than land, so the Strand runs cooler than Columbia in July and several degrees warmer on a January night. It is also why the growing season here is long, the palmettos survive, and the shoulder seasons are so much more usable than they are further inland.
Rainfall
Around 1,300 millimetres a year, with a summer maximum.