Progressively colder days began on Monday for the Upstate and would eventually reach the Lowcountry by Thursday morning. Freezing air arrived for
Aiken, Sumter and Conway on Tuesday morning. A secondary forcing of arctic-regions cold came on gusting northwest winds and snow flurries on Wednesday.
The Greenville-Spartanburg AP measured gusts of 39 mph and Hilton Head Island recorded winds of 38 mph. At around 4:00 p.m., wind-blown flurries were
observed in Hartsville, Sumter and Summerton. The Charleston AP noted light snow at 9:34 p.m. Moncks Corner and Goose Creek reported a "dusting" and at
10:35 p.m. flurries were observed over Folly Beach. The thermometer at Caesars Head reached 0 degrees on Thursday morning. It was 8 degrees in Johnston,
10 degrees in Rock Hill and 13 degrees at Sandhill. The 7:29 a.m. observation of 14 degrees at Florence Regional AP set a date record. Georgetown recorded
a low temperature of 17 degrees and both Folly Beach and Beaufort shared a sub-freezing 21 degrees. The 7:50 a.m. observation at Hilton Head Island AP of
23 degrees, combined with north winds gusting at 28 mph, yielded a wind chill value of 6 degrees. At 10:00 a.m., runway instruments at Columbia Hamilton-Owens
airport recorded a peak barometric pressure value of 30.71 inches of mercury. At noon, Charleston City shivered at 28 degrees. The Summerville high temperature
of just 31 degrees made it that location's coldest afternoon in 18 years. Some cloudiness lingered along the coast on Friday but the majority of the state was sunny and cold. The Conway AP and Beaufort reported what felt like a mild afternoon temperature of 54 degrees. More winter cold on Saturday morning pushed the mercury back down to 14 degrees at Table Rock, 16 degrees at Cedar Creek and 25 degrees in Darlington. Pickens, McCormick and Shaw AFB all reported a Saturday maximum temperature of 45 degrees. Overcast and cold conditions on Sunday afternoon kept Clinton and Bishopville at 45 degrees while the coastal locations of N Myrtle Beach and Sullivan's Island made it to a more agreeable 65 degrees. During the last few hours of Sunday, light rains began edging into the west central counties. The state average temperature for the seven-day period was seven degrees below the long-term average.
The highest official temperature reported was 68 degrees at Edisto Beach on January 6. The lowest official temperature reported was -1 degrees at Sassafras Mt. on January 8. The heaviest official 24-hour rainfall reported was 0.64 inches at Greenville-Spartanburg AP on January 11. The state average rainfall for the seven-day period was 0.1 inches.
PRECIPITATION:
Precipitation
Weekly Jan 1 Departure
Anderson AP 0.46 2.09 1.2
Greer AP 0.64 2.55 1.2
Charlotte, NC AP 0.08 0.71 -0.5
Columbia Metro AP 0.05 0.71 -0.5
Orangeburg AP 0.00 0.21 -1.2
Augusta, GA Bush AP 0.12 0.50 -0.9
Florence AP 0.00 0.17 -1.0
N Myrtle Beach AP 0.00 0.31 -1.0
Charleston AP 0.01 0.41 -0.9
Savannah, GA AP 0.00 0.52 -0.7
Weekly rainfall totals ending midnight Sunday.
SOIL:
4-inch depth soil temperature: Columbia 45 degrees, Charleston 50 degrees.
RIVERS AND SURF:
South Carolina river stages were near normal. Charleston Harbor reported a water temperature of 52 degrees and Springmaid Pier at Myrtle Beach reported a surf water temperature of 49 degrees.
