SOUTH CAROLINA WEATHER AND CLIMATE

March 11 - 17, 2002


WEATHER SUMMARY

Most of the western half of the state observed a freeze on Monday morning. A warm front slowly moved northward Tuesday and help set off widespread showers which continued into Wednesday. By Thursday afternoon temperatures were peaking near 80 degrees. The Springlike warmth held through most of the weekend although on Sunday a boundary of cooler air over the northern counties provided clouds and scattered light showers while the southern counties remained warm and sunny. The rapid warmth has accelerated plant flowering and pollen counts were on the rise. For the period the state average temperature was six degrees above normal.

PRECIPITATION AND TEMPERATURE DATA

The highest temperature was 89 degrees at Ridgeville on March 17. The lowest temperature was 23 degrees at Lake Bowen on the morning of March 11. The greatest 24-hour rainfall reported was 0.88" at Hunts Bridge ending at 7:00 a.m. on March 17. The average statewide rainfall for the period was 0.5".


			Precipitation
		Period   2002   Deviation*        Temperature
Location         Total  Total    From Avg.     Maximum   Minimum	
Greer             1.62   9.16        2.5B          NA       32                       	              	
Columbia          0.52   6.24        4.9B          84       30
Florence          0.21   4.79        4.6B          NA       36	        
Charleston        0.35   7.13        2.3B          86       42
N Myrtle Beach    1.08   5.25        4.1B          NA       35
Augusta, Ga.      0.91   7.61        3.6B          88       29
*A=Above, B=Below                                                                       
                                    
 

Note: Weekly rainfall amounts are for the period ending midnight Monday through midnight Sunday

SOIL

4 inch depth average soil temperature: Columbia 62 degrees.

RIVERS AND SURF

South Carolina river stages were below normal.
Surf temperatures at Myrtle Beach and Savannah will average around 58 degrees.


sco@water.dnr.state.sc.us
http://water.dnr.state.sc.us/climate/sco/weekly/wk031802.html