SOUTH CAROLINA WEATHER AND CLIMATE

Icy, winter weather started and ended the week. Snow began falling upstate early Monday morning with central sections reporting a cold rain and a few claps of thunder. Rain changed briefly to sleet then heavy snow in Columbia around 2:00 p.m. and spread eastward and south. Slick roadways were blamed for hundreds of accidents and lengthy delays in the city's exodus. Heavy snow continued into mid-day Tuesday across northeastern counties leaving a path of utility failures and closings. Snow totals of twelve inches were common from the eastern Piedmont into the north Midlands. Reenforcing colder air followed the departing storm and by Thursday morning temperatures fell to their lowest levels since February 1996. Single digit observations were recorded west of a line from Edgefield County into Lancaster County. Friday high temperatures remained in the 30's. The week's second winter weather episode began Saturday as an ice storm and continued overnight into Sunday. Freezing rain coated trees and surfaces with an estimated one quarter inch of ice. Additional power loss was caused by the ice loadings weight on trees and electrical lines. Sunday evening finally saw the precipitation changing to light rain and departing. Statewide temperatures for the period averaged twelve degrees below normal.

PRECIPITATION AND TEMPERATURE DATA

The maximum observed temperature was 57degrees at North Myrtle Beach on January 30. The minimum observed temperature was 6 degrees at Lake Bowen on the morning of January 27. The heaviest 24-hour rainfall reported was 2.27" at Columbia AP on January 24. The average statewide rainfall for the period was 1.5".

               Precipitation
              Period     2000       Deviation*      Temperature
Location       Total     Total      From Avg.  Maximum    Minimum   
Greer          0.69      3.7        0.2B         41         NA
Charlotte, NC  NA        NA         NA           NA         NA
Columbia       3.55      8.9        4.6A         41         17            
Florence FAA   2.31      4.6        1.2A         NA         NA           
Blackville     1.87      4.8        0.7A         NA         NA
Augusta, GA    NA        NA         NA           NA         NA
Beaufort       1.44      2.4        1.2B         NA         NA
Charleston     2.58      4.0        0.7A         48         21
Myrtle Beach   1.80      4.9        1.7A         57         NA 

Note: Weekly rainfall amounts are for the prior 24-hrs ending 7 am Monday through ending 7 am Sunday

SOIL 4 inch depth average soil temperatures: Columbia 45 degrees.

RIVERS AND SURF

Most South Carolina rivers are near normal and rising. Several eastern rivers are above flood stage. Surf temperatures at Myrtle Beach and Savannah will average around 46 degrees.