Isolated showers on Monday preceded the arrival of a cooler air mass but did little to help cleanse the air and exposed surfaces of pine tree pollen. On Tuesday morning, Rock Hill, Union and Summerville all reported a cold 35 degrees. Sunny skies helped Allendale warm from a morning low of 38 degrees to an afternoon high temperature of 82 degrees. The state's March 2015 rainfall ranged from a high of 5.08 inches at Barnwell to just 1.55 inches at Winthrop College. April began with widely-spaced light showers moving across the southern counties. Orangeburg measured 0.06 inches and Charleston AP received 0.08 inches. Chester, Lake City, Sumter and Bishopville all reached 75 degrees on April 1. Northeast winds kept a chill in the air within any out-of-doors shade. Thursday morning's temperature fell to 43 degrees at Cheraw, Chesterfield, Bennettsville and Marion. Light rains came in an eastward-moving wave on Thursday evening, bringing 0.46 inches to Greer, 0.37 inches to Clemson-Oconee AP and 0.36 inches to Pickens. Warming southwest winds on Friday gusted to 36 mph at the Rock Hill AP. Columbia, Shaw AFB and Walterboro all recorded a Friday high temperature of 86 degrees. The twenty-four-hour open pan evaporation (water loss) measured at the Sandhill Experiment Station was a season high 0.28 inches. Landscape flowering continued to make slow progress against the balance of cool days over warm. Mild temperatures on a cloudy Saturday were swept away as unseasonable cold arrived for Easter Sunday's sunrise. Minimum temperatures on Sunday fell to 31 degrees at Table Rock and Sandy Springs. Cedar Creek in northern Richland County reported 32 degrees. Saluda and the Conway AP noted a cold 36 degrees. (South Carolina's "coldest known" Easter morning was observed on April 8, 2007. On that date, Pelion reported 17 degrees and a freezing 32 degrees was observed at Sullivan's Island.) At 2:46 p.m. on Sunday, a sunny Greenville-Spartanburg AP recorded a high temperature of 65 degrees. Florence and Holly Hill shared a high temperature of 72 degrees. The state average temperature for the seven-day period was nearly three degrees above the long-term average.
The highest official temperature reported was 87 degrees at Jamestown on April 3. The lowest official temperature reported was 29 degrees at Chesnee and Spartanburg on April 5. The heaviest official 24-hour rainfall reported was 0.91 inches at Johnston ending at 7:00 a.m. on April 3. The state average rainfall for the seven-day period was 0.2 inches.
PRECIPITATION:
Precipitation
Weekly Jan 1 Departure
Anderson AP 0.41 8.42 -4.2
Greer AP 0.70 9.89 -3.0
Charlotte, NC AP 0.30 8.05 -3.2
Columbia Metro AP 0.08 10.20 -1.2
Orangeburg AP 0.06 9.88 -2.3
Augusta, GA Bush AP 0.12 9.87 -2.7
Florence AP 0.01 10.34 0.4
N Myrtle Beach AP 0.00 9.62 -2.0
Charleston AP 0.08 10.27 -0.6
Savannah, GA AP 0.06 9.61 -1.2
Weekly rainfall totals ending midnight Sunday.
SOIL:
4-inch depth soil temperature: Columbia 64 degrees, Charleston 64 degrees.
RIVERS AND SURF:
South Carolina river stages were below normal. Charleston Harbor reported a water temperature of 63 degrees and Springmaid Pier at Myrtle Beach reported a surf water temperature of 59 degrees.
