Sunshine, a Steady Breeze and a Dry Halloween: Horry County’s Mild Week Comes With Some Fine Print

Posted Monday, October 26, 2026 2:56 pm

David Hucks (via MyrtleBeachSC)

Oct 26, 2026 · @David

If you stepped outside early Monday and reached for a jacket, you weren’t imagining the chill. Morning readings sat in the low to mid 50s along the beaches and dipped into the upper 40s in parts of western Horry County . But the cool start is the only real bite this week has. Forecasters expect a run of sunny, breezy days with highs in the 70s, almost no rain through Friday, and a comfortable Dry Halloween night.

That is welcome news for anyone with outdoor plans, from fall festivals to trick-or-treating to a late-season round of golf. Still, a pleasant forecast in late October 2026 is not quite the same as a carefree one. This week lines up with a full moon, a stubborn northeast wind and a year in which our corner of South Carolina has spent months short on rain. Below is what the forecast says, where the forecasters disagree, and what locals should keep an eye on even while enjoying the weather.

The Forecast: Dry, Breezy and Slowly Warming

The pattern behind the nice weather is simple. A large area of high pressure parked to our north is feeding dry air into the Carolinas, which keeps skies clear and winds blowing out of the northeast through at least midweek.

The National Weather Service’s point forecast for Myrtle Beach calls for sunshine Monday with a high near 73 and northeast winds gusting to around 20 mph. Monday night falls to about 50 degrees. Tuesday repeats Monday almost exactly. Wednesday warms to around 75 under mostly sunny skies, though gusts could reach the low 20s along the coast. Thursday and Friday both top out in the mid 70s [National Weather Service, 2026]. WMBF’s forecast team adds that inland communities such as Conway, Aynor and Loris may run a few degrees warmer than the beaches by Wednesday and Thursday, edging toward the upper 70s.

Here is the part that often gets lost in the word “mild”: these numbers are not unusual. Weather Underground’s almanac for Myrtle Beach International Airport lists a typical late-October high of about 74 and a typical low of about 51 [Weather Underground, 2026]. In other words, this is roughly what a normal week is supposed to feel like, with a slight warm tilt by Friday. After a year that brought record dryness, a statewide burn ban and a major wildfire in Carolina Forest, an ordinary week of weather is something of a novelty in itself.

The practical takeaway for residents: the wind is the one feature most people will notice. Expect it to rattle patio umbrellas and push around loose decorations early in the week, and expect it to make the beach feel cooler than the thermometer suggests.

Enjoying a Dry Halloween

Halloween and the Time Change: Mostly Good News, One Open Question

For families planning Saturday night, the local outlook is encouraging. WMBF expects Friday and Halloween Saturday to stay dry and mild, with afternoon highs in the mid to upper 70s and a comfortable evening for trick-or-treaters. A few more clouds and a slight chance of a stray shower arrive Sunday.

Not every forecast model sees it the same way, however. AccuWeather’s extended outlook for Myrtle Beach has leaned wetter, showing showers possible late Friday night into Saturday morning before clouds break up [AccuWeather, 2026]. Weather Underground, meanwhile, places its best rain chances on Sunday and Monday instead [Weather Underground, 2026].

The disagreement comes down to timing. All of the outlooks agree that the dry stretch eventually ends as moisture returns from the south late in the week; they differ on whether that happens before, during or after Halloween. Our read is that Saturday evening currently looks like the safest window of the weekend, but anyone planning an outdoor Friday night event or a Saturday morning yard sale should check the forecast again on Thursday. That is when the timing of the next system should come into sharper focus.

There is also a scheduling wrinkle. Clocks fall back one hour overnight Saturday into Sunday [WMBF, 2026]. Based on published sunset times for Myrtle Beach, which run around 6:24 p.m. on Halloween [timeanddate.com, 2026], darkness will arrive close to 5:20 p.m. starting Sunday. That is a meaningful shift for kids walking home from practice and for drivers on busy, poorly lit corridors such as U.S. 501 and S.C. 544. Headlights and reflective gear matter more starting next week.

At the Coast: A Full Moon, a Northeast Wind and Higher Tides

The sunny forecast can make it easy to overlook what is happening at the water’s edge. Monday’s full moon [Weather Underground, 2026] pushes astronomical tides higher than usual, and the National Weather Service office in Wilmington, which covers Horry and Georgetown counties, flagged October 26 through 28 in its fall outlook as dates when so-called “sunny day” flooding could easily occur [NWS Wilmington, 2026]. That kind of flooding happens without a storm; the tide alone is high enough to push saltwater into low spots.

A persistent northeast wind tends to pile water against the coast and can add to those tide levels. The same lunar cycle is causing trouble elsewhere this week. Along the Florida coast, the higher tides have combined with a nor’easter to produce coastal flood warnings, beach erosion and dangerous surf [WUSF, 2026], while forecasters on North Carolina’s Outer Banks issued a coastal flood advisory and noted that the king tide cycle there peaks Tuesday and Wednesday [NWS Newport/Morehead City, 2026].

To be clear, the Grand Strand is not in the path of that storm, and no comparable warning for our beaches turned up as of Monday morning. But the astronomical part of the equation is the same here. Locals may remember how quickly things went wrong last October, when a slow-moving coastal storm arrived during a stretch of king tides and caused flash and tidal flooding in parts of Horry and Georgetown counties [NWS Wilmington, 2025]. This week’s setup is far milder, yet the lesson holds: when tides are already running high, it does not take much to put water in the streets.

AccuWeather also flagged rough surf and rip currents for the area over the weekend [AccuWeather, 2026]. With lifeguard season long over, anyone tempted by a warm afternoon swim should treat the ocean with extra caution. Around high tide, avoid driving through standing saltwater in low-lying neighborhoods near the marsh and the Intracoastal Waterway; it is corrosive to vehicles and often deeper than it looks.

Dry and Breezy in a Drought Year

The same sunshine and wind that make this week pleasant also dry out the landscape quickly, and that deserves attention given the year Horry County has had.

South Carolina recorded its driest September-through-March stretch since record-keeping began in 1895, according to federal drought monitors [Drought.gov, 2026]. Horry County imposed a burn ban in late March amid low humidity and gusty winds [MyHorryNews, 2026], and the Covington Drive wildfire in Carolina Forest eventually scorched more than 2,000 acres and smoldered for weeks [WBTW, 2026].

Conditions improved this fall, but not all at once. In early October, the NWS Wilmington drought statement reported that flow on the Waccamaw River at Freeland was near the lowest five percent for the time of year, and that Loris still had mandatory water conservation measures in place for its municipal system [NWS Wilmington, 2026]. Heavy rain on October 10 and 11 helped, and the most recent U.S. Drought Monitor summary describes improving conditions across the Carolinas thanks to rain over the preceding few weeks [U.S. Drought Monitor, 2026]. Even so, an independent analysis of NOAA station data found South Carolina was still running roughly ten inches below its normal year-to-date rainfall as of early October [Weather on This Day, 2026].

Put those pieces together and the picture is clear: a week of sun, low humidity and steady wind is exactly the kind of stretch that turns fallen leaves and pine straw into fuel. We found no active burn ban for Horry County as of Monday, but county rules still require anyone planning an open burn to notify the South Carolina Forestry Commission at 1-800-986-5404 before lighting anything [Horry County Government, 2026]. Loris-area residents should also confirm whether water restrictions remain in effect before running sprinklers through the dry spell.

What’s Next

Looking past this week, several dates are worth circling.

First, the weekend rain question. Watch Thursday’s forecast updates for the timing of the next system; it will decide whether Friday night and Saturday morning stay dry.

Second, real cold is not here yet. The average date of the first freeze ranges from late October in Lumberton to November 21 in Georgetown, and it varies a lot from year to year [NWS Wilmington, 2026]. With lows forecast in the 50s, frost is not a concern this week, so tender plants can stay outside for now.

Third, higher tides will return. NWS Wilmington has already identified November 24 through 26 as another window for possible sunny-day flooding [NWS Wilmington, 2026], and forecasters along the Southeast coast are watching an earlier elevated-tide period in early November as well [WUSF, 2026].

Finally, keep the drought in mind. A wet fall was forecast to chip away at the region’s deficit, and October’s heavy rain did help, but one good storm does not erase a record dry year. We will keep tracking river levels, water restrictions and any change in burn rules as the season goes on.

For now, the advice is simple: enjoy one of the nicest weeks of the fall, give the beach a little extra respect around high tide, and keep an eye on Thursday’s forecast before finalizing Halloween weekend plans.