South Carolina coast

Guides

Short explainers for the parts of the board that decide whether you go, for every South Carolina county board: Beaufort and Colleton on the Lowcountry board, Charleston on the Charleston board, Georgetown and Horry on the Grand Strand board. Each one links to the agency that owns the facts, and none of them go out of date on a schedule. The live readings are on the board.

• Tsunami: what to do on the South Carolina coast
  What is actually known about tsunamis on this coast, the sea’s own warning signs, what each alert level means, your county’s alerts, and why storm surge is the water that usually does harm here.
• Small craft advisories on the South Carolina coast
  Which coastal waters your town reads, Charleston’s or Wilmington’s, why Charleston Harbor has a forecast of its own and the other sounds do not, and what an advisory, gale or special marine warning means in knots.
• Reading a tide table on the South Carolina coast
  What the zero is measured from, why the tide runs eight feet at Beaufort and five and a half on the Grand Strand, which stations are live gauges, the tables worked out from Fort Pulaski, Charleston and Springmaid Pier, and how far the wind can push the water off the table.
• Fishing: what is open, and the limits
  SCDNR’s daily limits for the inshore fish, cobia south of Jeremy Inlet, and the 2026 red snapper season.
• Fire: what is burning, and burn bans
  Wildfires on the interagency list, the Forestry Commission’s burning bans and Red Flag Fire Alerts, and notifying SCFC before you burn.
• Oysters and clams: the season, the grounds and the closures
  SCDNR’s recreational season and its public and state grounds, SCDES’s management areas and closures, and which water each town reads.
• Beach water: who samples, and what an advisory means
  DES’s 122 stations from Cherry Grove to Hilton Head, short-term and long-term swim advisories, the May to October season, and the swashes to stay out of.