Not long after Andrews and Kingstree reported a Monday afternoon high temperature of 68 degrees, evening thunderstorms began developing on an approaching cold front. One-inch hailstones fell over parts of Hampton and Beaufort counties. At 9:58 p.m., the McEntire ANG AP recorded north winds gusting to 51 mph. Woodruff measured one of the heavier rainfalls with 1.47 inches. Marion received 0.78 inches and Calhoun Falls reported 0.62 inches. Cold, dry air settled into South Carolina during the next 24 hours. At 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, the Greenville AP reported a relative humidity value of 12 percent. Spring arrived on Wednesday morning but there was no seasonal warming. At 1:00 p.m., Columbia, Sumter and Charleston noted winter-like relative humidity of just 16 percent. Freezing air entered the Upstate on Thursday morning with gusting northwest winds. It was back to freezing on Friday morning with much of inland South Carolina in the 20's. Spartanburg reported a Friday sunrise minimum of 22 degrees. Other hard freeze observations included 24 degrees at Chesterfield, 25 degrees at Bishopville, 26 degrees at Florence, and 28 degrees at Sandhill. Edisto Beach chilled to a "spring-break" vacation, 40 degrees. Saturday began dry and cold before soaking rains in Georgia moved across the Savannah River. A more energetic complex of stormy weather developed during the darkness of Sunday morning along much of the same path. Thunderstorms produced 3.00 inches of rain at Edisto Beach, 2.70 inches of rain at Allendale and 2.65 inches at Walterboro. The USC Columbia campus rain gage received an event total of 2.31 inches. Johnston and McCormick measured 2.30 inches. NWS instruments at James Island recorded winds of 53 mph. The Springmaid Pier at Myrtle Beach measured east-northeast winds of 45 mph and a minimum barometric pressure value of 29.42 inches of mercury. Hartsville reported a cloudy and wet Sunday afternoon with a high temperature of only 46 degrees. On the same date in 2012, Hartsville reported 83 degrees. The average temperature for the period was seven degrees below the long term average.
The highest official temperature reported was 78 degrees at Summerville and Charleston AP on March 19. The lowest official temperature reported was 20 degrees at Caesars Head on March 22. The heaviest official 24-hour rainfall reported was 3.70 inches at Summerville on March 24. The state average rainfall for the period was 2.2 inches.
PRECIPITATION:
Precipitation
Weekly Jan 1 Departure
Total Total from Avg
Anderson AP 1.87 12.08 1.0
Greer AP 1.73 12.15 0.9
Charlotte, NC AP 1.40 10.57 0.7
Columbia Metro AP 3.30 10.31 0.2
Orangeburg AP 2.25 10.94 0.3
Augusta, GA Bush AP 2.11 12.56 1.4
Florence AP 1.98 8.82 0.1
N Myrtle Beach AP 2.58 8.14 -2.0
Charleston AP 3.94 14.83 5.3
Savannah, GA AP 1.87 12.31 3.0
Weekly rainfall totals ending midnight Sunday.
SOIL:
4-inch depth soil temperature: Columbia 59 degrees, Charleston 60 degrees.
RIVERS AND SURF:
South Carolina river stages were near to below normal. Ocean water temperatures at Springmaid Pier Myrtle Beach were reported at 55 degrees.
