Myrtle Beach Weather by Month (2026 Data)

Myrtle Beach weather by month follows a four-season rhythm that the beaches farther south never see: a normal January high of 55.7°F¹, a July high of 87.6°F¹, and nights that swing from 36.7°F in January to 73.7°F in July. The Atlantic runs on a later clock. The water bottoms out at 59.5°F² in February and peaks at 82.3°F² in August, when the hottest weeks on land are already over. Rain follows the same late curve, with the three wettest months running from July to September.¹

This page lays out the Grand Strand's year month by month - air, rain, daylight, ocean, snow and hurricanes - and then sets it beside 20 other U.S. beaches from New Hampshire to Hawaii. Those comparisons answer the practical question behind every beach booking: what does moving the trip by a month, or by a few hundred miles, actually change? The short version is that South Florida's Atlantic beaches keep the water warm all winter, the Gulf warms faster in spring, and California trades warm afternoons for a cold ocean.² Snow and hurricanes close the picture: both are rare at Myrtle Beach, and both are counted here storm by storm.³⁴

A year of air temperatures at Myrtle Beach

Afternoons climb steadily from 55.7°F¹ (13°C) in January to 87.6°F¹ (31°C) in July, the warmest month, then ease back to 75.6°F by October. Nights follow the same arc about 14 to 21 degrees lower, from 36.7°F in January to 73.7°F in July. The mean of day and night runs from 46.2°F in January to 80.6°F in July.¹

Spring and fall are not mirror images. April and October afternoons are close, 71.8°F against 75.6°F, but October nights are three degrees warmer, 56.3°F against 53.3°F. That is why October feels like a softer end of summer, while April evenings still call for a jacket.¹

These normals come from the airport station at the north end of the Grand Strand, so North Myrtle Beach weather by month reads straight from the table above. A second station in Myrtle Beach itself, about 7 miles southwest, records almost the same afternoons, 55.5°F in January and 87.4°F in July, but nights about 3 degrees colder, with a January low of 33.6°F.¹

Hot afternoons and frosty mornings

Heat is moderate by Southern standards. The airport averages 20.9¹ days a year at 90°F or hotter, and even July has only 8.2 of them, so most summer afternoons stop in the upper 80s.¹

Frost is the winter counterpart. January brings 12.4¹ nights at 32°F or colder on average, December 8.6 and February 6.9, while May through September have none in the normals.¹

Rain and daylight by month

Rain falls all year, but the second half is wetter. September is the wettest month at 6.65 inches¹ (169 mm), followed by August at 6.25 inches and July at 5.40 inches, while April is the driest at 2.77 inches. The normal year adds up to 48.47 inches¹ (1,231 mm).¹

Rain days tell a gentler story than rain totals. Counting days with at least 0.10 inch, July and August average 8.0¹ each and April 4.5, so even the wettest months are mostly dry days with a passing storm.¹

Daylight swings by 4.5 hours⁵ across the year: 14.4 hours on June 15 against 9.9 hours on December 15, sunrise to sunset at the Grand Strand's latitude. Long June evenings make early summer the best-lit beach season, while short December days squeeze golf rounds and beach walks into the middle of the day.⁵

Myrtle Beach water temperature by month

The ocean runs about a month behind the air. Sea surface temperature off the Grand Strand bottoms out at 59.5°F² (15°C) in February and peaks at 82.3°F² (28°C) in August. September water, at 80.4°F, is warmer than June water at 78.7°F, which makes September the better swimming month of the two.²

The biggest jump comes between May and June, when the water warms by 6.5 degrees, from 72.2°F to 78.7°F². The cooling is slower: October still averages 74.7°F, and only in November does the monthly mean fall below 70°F, to 68.0°F.²

That lag shapes the shoulder seasons. In April the afternoon air reaches 71.8°F while the sea is still 65.5°F², a 6.3-degree gap that makes the first swim of spring a cold one. In October the order flips: 74.7°F water sits under 75.6°F afternoons, and on cool evenings the sea is the warmest thing on the beach.¹

Many swimmers find ocean water comfortable between 70°F and 78°F.⁶ On that 70°F threshold the Grand Strand has 6⁵ swimming months, May through October, and from June through September the water runs warmer than 78°F.²

Beach by beach: the Atlantic coast

North of the Grand Strand

Virginia Beach weather by month runs colder than the Grand Strand's in every month, by up to 6.1 degrees in the afternoon: the normal January high is 50.3°F¹ against 55.7°F, and July tops out at 87.4°F, almost level with Myrtle Beach. Winter nights are the real difference, with 16.4 freezing nights in January.¹

Virginia Beach water temperature by month follows the same lag from a colder start: 43.2°F² in February, 77.7°F at the August peak, and four months at 70°F or warmer, June through September. Farther north, Rehoboth Beach water temperature by month bottoms out at 37.6°F in February and peaks at 75.1°F in August.²

Hampton Beach water temperature by month is the northern bookend of this comparison: the New Hampshire shore stays below 70°F all year and peaks at 65.0°F² in August, 17.3 degrees colder than the Grand Strand in the same month.²

South of the Grand Strand

Folly Beach water temperature by month, off Charleston, stays within 1.1 degrees of Myrtle Beach in every month and peaks at 83.1°F² in August. Jacksonville Beach water temperature by month starts the Florida warm-up: 61.1°F in February, 82.4°F in August and seven months at 70°F or warmer, May through November.²

Daytona Beach water temperature by month never falls below 66.9°F², its February low, and reaches 82.3°F in September. Cocoa Beach water temperature by month dips under 70°F only in February, to 69.6°F, and peaks at 82.9°F in September.²

Ashore, Cocoa Beach weather by month is subtropical: normal highs run from 71.8°F¹ in January to 89.7°F in July, and January nights average 51.7°F. Vero Beach weather by month is 1.5 degrees warmer in January, with a 73.3°F high, and reaches 90.5°F in July.¹

Vero Beach water temperature by month stays above 70°F all year, from 73.2°F² in February to 83.7°F in August. West Palm Beach water temperature by month is warmer still, from 76.9°F in February to 85.2°F in August, measured at the nearest open-ocean grid point 11.2 miles offshore.²

On land, West Palm Beach average temperature by month runs from 66.3°F¹ in January to 83.2°F in August, with no freezing nights in the normals. Miami Beach weather by month is milder still in winter, with a January high of 73.6°F and a low of 61.2°F, and a July high of 87.8°F that is barely above Myrtle Beach's.¹

Miami Beach water temperature by month tops the Atlantic side of this comparison in summer, from 76.1°F² in February to 85.5°F in August, so all 12 months stay above 70°F. Winter is where these beaches separate most, as the January means below show.¹

Beach by beach: the Gulf Coast

Panama City Beach weather by month is warmer than the Grand Strand's in every month: January highs average 62.8°F¹ and July highs 90.5°F, with 20.0 days of 90°F heat in each of July and August. Rosemary Beach weather by month, on the same stretch of coast, is read from the same airport station, the nearest one with temperature normals, so it shares the 62.8°F January high and the 90.5°F July high.¹

Panama City Beach water temperature by month climbs from 62.8°F² in February to 84.8°F in August, 2.5 degrees warmer than the Grand Strand's peak. Fort Walton Beach weather by month is almost a copy of Panama City's, with a 63.1°F January high and 90.9°F in July.¹

Orange Beach, Alabama weather by month comes from the nearest coastal station, across the state line at Pensacola: January highs of 61.1°F¹, July highs of 89.3°F and 57.65 inches of rain a year, the wettest of the Gulf stations here.¹ The sea off Orange Beach runs within a degree of Panama City Beach's in most months, from 63.1°F in February to 85.0°F in August.²

Clearwater Beach weather by month brings January highs of 70.6°F¹ and August highs of 90.6°F, with 23.5 days of 90°F heat in August alone. St. Pete Beach weather by month is read from the same St. Petersburg airport station, so it shares the 70.6°F January high.¹

Clearwater Beach water temperature by month runs from 64.0°F in February to 86.0°F² in August, with eight months at 70°F or warmer, April through November. Siesta Key Beach water temperature by month, farther south, stays within 1.3 degrees of Clearwater's all year, from 65.2°F to 86.1°F.²

Fort Myers Beach average temperature by month is the warmest on the Gulf side, with a 64.7°F¹ January mean, 91.7°F August highs and 120.2 days of 90°F heat in a normal year. Fort Myers Beach water temperature by month follows at 67.8°F in January and 86.4°F in August, the warmest Gulf water in this comparison.²

Beach by beach: the Pacific coast and Hawaii

California turns the East Coast pattern around: mild air, cold water. Laguna Beach weather by month runs from a 68.4°F¹ January high to 81.2°F in August, and nearly all of its 12.68 inches of yearly rain falls from November to April. Laguna Beach water temperature by month barely moves, from 59.1°F in February to 69.2°F in August.²

Newport Beach weather by month, measured at the harbor, is cooler by day than Laguna's in summer, 73.3°F in August against 81.2°F, with a 64.5°F January high.¹ Newport Beach water temperature by month comes from the same ocean grid cell as Laguna's, so the two read the same, 59.1°F² to 69.2°F.²

Huntington Beach water temperature by month stays within 0.3 degree of those two and peaks at 69.0°F² in August.² Long Beach average temperature by month runs from 57.1°F in January to 74.3°F in August, with 23.3 days of 90°F heat a year, against 4.3 in Laguna and 0.6 at Newport Harbor.¹

Pismo Beach weather by month is even gentler, with normal highs between 64.8°F¹ and 72.5°F all year.¹ Pismo Beach water temperature by month has the lowest summer peak in this comparison, 59.7°F² in September and October, and its coldest month is April at 53.6°F, not February.

Pebble Beach weather by month, read from the Monterey airport station, is a links-golf climate rather than a swimming one: highs of 61.6°F¹ in January and only 68.9°F in July, with the warmest afternoons in September at 70.9°F.¹

Cannon Beach weather by month, from the station at Seaside just to the north, is the wettest and coolest on the list: 76.71 inches¹ of rain a year and a July high of 65.0°F.¹ November alone brings 12.01 inches, more than Newport Beach Harbor collects in a whole year.¹

Waikiki Beach water temperature by month is the steadiest of all, from 75.3°F² in February and March to 80.3°F in September, a range of 5.0 degrees.²

Nights are where the coasts differ most for anyone packing a jacket. In January the lows fall to 31.6°F at Virginia Beach and 36.7°F at Myrtle Beach, while Miami Beach never drops below 61.2°F¹ in any month.¹ Yearly rain splits the coasts the other way: the 10 East and Gulf stations with rain normals average 54.2 inches, nearly five times the 11.4 inches of the three Southern California stations.⁵

Counting months at 70°F or warmer, the Grand Strand's season of 6⁵ months sits in the middle of the East Coast list. Vero Beach, West Palm Beach, Miami Beach and Waikiki swim all 12 months, while no California beach reaches 70°F in any month.²

Across the 21 beaches, the August gap between the warmest and coldest water is 27.3 degrees, from 86.4°F at Fort Myers Beach to 59.1°F at Pismo Beach. In February the spread widens to 39.3 degrees², from 76.9°F off West Palm Beach to 37.6°F off Rehoboth Beach; the full table follows.²

Snow at the beach

How often does it snow in Myrtle Beach?

Rarely, and usually lightly. The snowfall record for Myrtle Beach since 1940 lists 36³ snowfalls totaling 87.4 inches³ (2,220 mm), about one inch a year on average, but in practice long gaps broken by a few big storms. Only 8 of those 36 snowfalls reached 5 inches or more.³

The largest was the storm of December 22-24, 1989, which left 14.0 inches³ and alone makes the 1980s the snowiest decade, with 34.5 inches. The 2020s already stand at 10.5 inches after two 5-inch snowfalls, in January 2025 and on January 31-February 1, 2026.³

January is the snow month: 17³ of the 36 snowfalls began in January, 10 in February, 6 in December and 3 in March, and none on the list began in November or April.³

The ten largest snowfalls span 1942 to 2026, and four of them measured exactly 5.0 inches³: March 1980, January 1988, January 2025 and the storm of January 31-February 1, 2026.

How much snow will Virginia Beach get in a normal winter? About 3.4 inches¹ at the Oceana station in the 1991-2020 normals, with 2.2 inches in January, 0.8 in February and 0.4 in December. That is a small but real snow season.¹ Over the same 1991-2020 years the Grand Strand's snowfall list records 12.5 inches in 8 snowfalls, about 0.4 inch a year, so Virginia Beach gets about eight times as much.³⁵

Hurricane season

How often does Myrtle Beach get hurricanes?

Since 1950, 26⁴ tropical storms and hurricanes have passed within 50 miles of Myrtle Beach, one every 2.9 years⁴ on average. Ten of them were hurricanes at that distance, one every 7.6 years, and 2 were major hurricanes: Hazel in October 1954 and Helene in September 1958, both Category 4.⁴

September is the peak month, with 8 of the 26 storms, followed by August with 6; the storms on record arrived between May and November. The longer record since 1851 counts 57 storms, one every 3.1 years.⁴

Hazel remains the benchmark. It passed 19.8 miles⁴ from Myrtle Beach on October 15, 1954, with sustained winds near 132 mph inside the 50-mile circle; Helene stayed 44.3 miles offshore four years later but was even stronger, near 138 mph. Most storms since then have been far weaker: 16 of the 26 were tropical storms, not hurricanes, at that distance.⁵

Recent decades have been busier than the 1970s: 5⁴ storms each in the 2000s and 2010s, and five more in the 2020s through 2025, against one in the 1970s. Eight decades of counts this small are too few to call that a trend.⁴

The hurricanes that came within 50 miles since 1950 are listed below with their strongest winds inside that circle. Four of the ten passed within 15.4 miles⁴: Charley in 2004, Matthew in 2016, Florence in 2018 and Isaias in 2020.⁵

Winter across the United States

A U.S. average temperature map by month, here for January, shows why Myrtle Beach sits on the border between winter and no winter. In January, South Carolina averages 45.3°F⁷ statewide, Florida 58.3°F and Virginia 35.8°F; in July the same three states average 80.9°F, 82.2°F and 75.7°F. January spreads the states from 4.2°F in Alaska to 63.4°F in Hawaii, while July narrows the range to 54.1°F through 83.0°F.⁷

Planning the trip

How much does it cost to go to Myrtle Beach?

Traveler-reported costs put a budget day at $94⁸ per person, a mid-range day at $214 and a luxury day at $429, with meals alone around $97 a person per day. A mid-range week for one person comes to about $1,498.⁸

For a family of four on the mid-range figure, a week adds up to about $5,992, four people for seven days at $214 each.⁸⁵ Moving that week from July to September keeps the water near 80°F (80.4°F in September)² and cuts the average days of 90°F heat from 8.2 to 1.7,¹ while the storm risk peaks in the same month.⁴

May is the other shoulder month worth pricing. The sea averages 72.2°F², just past the 70°F mark, while the air has 1.0 day of 90°F heat and 2.96 inches of rain,¹ and the days are already 13.9 hours long.⁵ It trades September's warmer water for a calmer storm record: 2 of the 26 storms since 1950 arrived in May.⁴

How much is parasailing in Myrtle Beach?

One operator on the strand charges $89⁹ per flyer, and observers who want a guaranteed seat pay the same. Trips take 30 minutes to an hour, and the schedule changes with wind and weather.⁹

The month-by-month summary below puts the air, water, rain and daylight numbers side by side, one line per month.¹

Conclusions

1. Plan swims on the water calendar, not the air calendar. The ocean peaks in August at 82.3°F and bottoms out in February at 59.5°F, about a month after the air.²
2. September is the best-balanced month. Water still averages 80.4°F² and 90°F days fall to 1.7, but September is also the wettest month (6.65 inches)¹ and the storm peak, with 8 of 26 storms since 1950.⁴
3. Distance changes winter far more than summer. July highs at the 11 East and Gulf Coast stations sit within 4.2 degrees of each other (87.4°F to 91.6°F), while January means across all 17 stations span 26.5 degrees.¹
4. California's catch is cold water, not cold air. Laguna Beach's January high of 68.4°F beats Myrtle Beach's 55.7°F,¹ yet its sea never reaches 70°F in any month.²
5. Snow and hurricanes are rare but real. Myrtle Beach has had 87.4 inches of snow in 36 snowfalls since 1940,³ and a tropical storm or hurricane within 50 miles on average once every 2.9 years since 1950.⁴