WEEKLY SOUTH CAROLINA WEATHER 2015

March 2, 2015 - March 8, 2015

A warm layer of air produced dense fog on Monday morning with reduced visibilities to one-eighth mile at Charleston AP and "zero" at McEntire ANG AP near Eastover. At 3:00 p.m., Aiken, Barnwell and Orangeburg reported 75 degrees. On Tuesday, a nearly stationary frontal boundary divided the northern and southern counties. At 2:00 p.m., Shaw AFB reported blowing drizzle and 42 degrees while the Beaufort Marine Corps Air Station was a mild and cloudy 67 degrees. Allendale warmed to a Tuesday afternoon high temperature of 75 degrees. Light rains left 0.16 inches at the Jocassee and Keowee dams. After such a lengthy winter, Wednesday's spring-like conditions were hard not to notice. Southwest surface winds gusted to 41 mph at Columbia Metro AP. Beaufort reached 83 degrees and Florence Regional AP recorded 81 degrees. On Thursday, Orangeburg AP backed up Wednesday's 82 degrees with 83 degrees and marked their first pair of 80-degree observations since October 28-29, 2014. At the same time southern South Carolina was enjoying a second day of warmth, a strong cold front was barreling its way southeastward over the Upstate's mountains. At around 3:30 p.m., north winds gusted to 55 mph in heavy rain at Florence Regional AP. Aiken and Columbia recorded winds of 51 mph within sheets of rain. Falling limbs caused interruptions to power in Richland, Darlington, Florence, Marlboro and Dillon counties. At the Cheraw Municipal Lynch Bellinger Field, runway instruments noted north winds gusting to 38 mph and a twenty-minute temperature fall from 73 degrees at 2:15 p.m. to 50 degrees at 2:35 p.m. Rainfall measurements taken on Friday morning included 0.68 inches at Andrews, 0.56 inches at Greenwood AP, 0.48 inches at Chesterfield and 0.45 inches at McCormick. Freezing air moved into Hartsville on Friday morning with an observation of 32 degrees. Only a few sites reached 50 degrees on Friday afternoon. York reported a maximum of 42 degrees and Springmaid Pier at Myrtle Beach only made it to 44 degrees. Winter cold was observed on Saturday morning. Caesars Head reported 17 degrees. At Rock Hill and Dillon it was 23 degrees. The coastal locations of Sullivan's Island and Edisto Beach hovered near freezing at 33 degrees. Light south to southwest winds on Saturday forced a return to milder conditions. A few stations receiving the majority of Saturday's sunshine recorded mild temperatures in the 60's. Columbia's Hamilton Owens AP reached 65 degrees. Despite Walhalla's elevation in the Foothills of 980 feet above sea level, Sunday's warming pushed the mercury to 75 degrees and two degrees warmer than Georgetown AP. Relative humidity values fell to 12 percent at Anderson, Greenville and Spartanburg. Fountain Inn and Bishopville shared a Sunday high temperature of 74 degrees. The state average temperature for the seven-day period was one degree above the long-term average.

WEATHER SUMMARY:

The highest official temperature reported was 84 degrees at Jamestown on March 4 and at Kingstree AP and Walterboro on March 5. The lowest official temperature reported was 16 degrees at Sassafras Mt. on March 6. The heaviest official 24-hour rainfall reported was 0.70 inches at Darlington ending at 7:00 a.m. on March 5. The state average rainfall for the seven-day period was 0.3 inches.

PRECIPITATION:

 
                                  
                                   Precipitation  
                              Weekly   Jan 1    Departure 
        Anderson AP            0.17     6.40      -2.5
           Greer AP            0.30     7.75      -1.2
   Charlotte, NC AP            0.60     6.58      -1.2
  Columbia Metro AP            0.12     7.96      -0.3
      Orangeburg AP            0.25     7.31      -1.3
Augusta, GA Bush AP            0.07     7.10      -1.9
        Florence AP            0.41     7.55       0.5 
  N Myrtle Beach AP            0.32     7.58      -0.5 
      Charleston AP            0.17     8.24       0.6
    Savannah, GA AP            0.22     7.84       0.4


Weekly rainfall totals ending midnight Sunday.  

SOIL:

4-inch depth soil temperature: Columbia 57 degrees, Charleston 54 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 48 degrees.