You’ve heard of the calm before the storm. Today is the calm between the storms, and it might not be all that calm.

Tropical Storm Bonnie’s tornadoes and heavy rains socked the state Thursday and early today. More heavy stuff could be on the way Saturday morning if Hurricane Charley, likely to be a tropical storm by then, follows its projected path through South Carolina.

If you need to go shopping for essentials, go today. “It’ll be a sort of a break until Charley comes toward the Southeast,” said Bernie Palmer, chief meteorologist at the National Weather Service office in Columbia.

Not that today will be perfect. The forecast calls for a 30 to 40 percent chance of showers or thundershowers. But those are typical spotty summer showers, not the scary boomers that heralded Bonnie’s approach Thursday.

Saturday, by contrast, will be a good day to hunker down inside. Forecasters expect Charley to serve up top winds of 40 to 50 mph and one to four inches of rain in its path through South Carolina from about sunrise to 5 p.m.

The big question is where Charley will go. If it stays to the far west of the forecasted path, the S.C. coast could get little rain. If it takes the far eastern path, the S.C. mountains could be spared.

It would have to take a strange turn, however, for central South Carolina to miss out on the rain.

“The weather in any one county is very track-dependent,” Palmer said. “It all depends on where the storm tracks.”

Because of that, people living in low-lying areas should seek high ground again tonight or early Saturday.

In Columbia, city officials will open three emergency shelters, said Mayor Bob Coble.

City officials also were preparing for the likelihood of flooding and downed power lines in the city. “We have a serious storm on the way, and it may catch us by surprise unless we get the word out,” Coble said.

The S.C. National Guard is in better shape this year if its citizen-soldiers are needed to clear debris and provide security, said spokesman Lt. Col. Pete Brooks.

Among those who can step in are members of two key units — an engineering battalion and a military police company. Both were in Iraq a year ago.

From Hilton Head Island to Charleston, merchants were watching and waiting for a possible brush with Charley, but merchants had little sense that visitors to the area were concerned.

Liz Mitchell with the Beaufort Chamber of Commerce said she had heard of no cancellations at area hotels. In a meeting with hoteliers earlier in the day, nobody talked of tourists dropping weekend plans, she said.

At the Palmer Home on East Battery in Charleston, one of the area’s premier bed & breakfast locations, manager Kristin Harrison said she was booked for the weekend. “A lot of people are already here,” she said.

The staff purchased extra water and frozen foods in the event the area should lose power, but in the meantime, they were ready to offer a cozy weekend retreat for their guests, Harrison said.

At the Holiday Inn Ocean Front on Hilton Head Island, human resources director Darryl Day said the hotel had had some cancellations, but he also expected walk-ins, which always come with storms.

“I can’t tell you how it’s going to impact us this early,” Day said.

Reach Holleman at (803) 771-8366 or jholleman@thestate.com. Staff writers Allison Askins, Chuck Crumbo and John Drake contributed to this report.