WEEKLY SOUTH CAROLINA WEATHER 2013

January 28 - February 3, 2013

WEATHER SUMMARY:

Overcast skies turned into light rain for Columbia, Eastover and Sumter at 10:00 a.m. on Monday morning. More hours of sunshine helped Hardeeville reach 69 degrees on Monday afternoon. Dense fog formed around midnight and lasted well into Tuesday morning. A surge of warmer air pushed the mercury to 80 degrees at Jamestown and Pinopolis. At 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, the Anderson AP reported south winds of 25 mph gusting to 35 mph. The Columbia Metro AP set a date record high temperature of 82 degrees. Strong southerly winds developed during the afternoon ahead of an advancing cold front from the northwest. Isolated storm cells left three-quarter inch hail over parts of Spartanburg County. The Charleston AP reported south winds gusting to 49 mph. The rain gage at Jocassee Dam measured a two-calendar day total 2.30 inches. Saluda received 1.45 inches and Chester received 1.36 inches. Most of the passing rains were without thunder. At 3:20 a.m. on Thursday morning, the McEntire ANG AP recorded west winds at 48 mph, and at 5:00 a.m., Florence noted west winds gusting to 45 mph. All South Carolina airports reported sunny skies at 1:00 p.m. January ended with a wet Long Creek measuring a 31-day total of 11.36 inches. The Charleston AP reported their "driest" January of record with just 0.35 inches. A dusting of snow was observed early Friday morning at Caesars Head. The state's warmest location on Friday went to Edisto Island with 59 degrees. Cold westerly winds ushered in freezing air for the weekend. Minimum temperatures on Saturday fell to 17 degrees at Pelion and Ninety Nine Islands. Walhalla's high temperature only rose to 36 degrees. The Springmaid Pier noted that site's lowest surf water temperature value of the season with 48.4 degrees. Fast-moving areas of precipitation rolled over the high elevation counties with measurable snow on Saturday night. On Sunday morning, a CoCoRaHS volunteer in Mountain Rest had measured 3.0 inches and the NWS site at Long Creek reported 2.0 inches. Mostly sunny, windy conditions were observed on Sunday afternoon. The thermometers at Florence, Sandhill and Aiken indicated a high temperature of 59 degrees. The state average temperature for the period was five degrees above average.

The highest official temperature reported was 82 degrees at Columbia Metro AP on January 30. The lowest official temperature reported was 15 degrees at Chesnee on February 2. The heaviest official 24-hour rainfall reported was 2.34 inches at Long Creek ending at 7:00 a.m. on January 31. The state average rainfall for the period was 0.8 inches.

PRECIPITATION:

                                   Precipitation                
                              Weekly   Jan 1   Departure     
                              Total    Total    from Avg      
        Anderson AP            1.36     5.27      1.0
           Greer AP            1.28     5.29      1.1 
   Charlotte, NC AP            0.88     4.29      0.5
  Columbia Metro AP            0.40     1.21     -2.7
      Orangeburg AP            0.46     0.84     -3.4
Augusta, GA Bush AP            0.31     0.60     -3.7
        Florence AP            0.36     1.50     -2.0
  N Myrtle Beach AP            0.21     0.64     -3.4
      Charleston AP            0.15     0.35     -3.7
    Savannah, GA AP            0.26     0.55     -3.5
     
Weekly rainfall totals ending midnight Sunday.  

SOIL:

4-inch depth soil temperature: Columbia 53 degrees, Charleston 55 degrees.

RIVERS AND SURF:

South Carolina river stages were near to below normal. Ocean water temperatures at Springmaid Pier Myrtle Beach were reported at 49 degrees.