SOUTH CAROLINA WEATHER AND CLIMATE

October 21 -27, 2002

WEATHER SUMMARY

On Monday a stationary front became aligned southwest to northeast with the southern branch of the jet stream. This pattern continued through the work week with cloudy skies, areas of showers and temperatures only peaking in the 60's and 70's. A slight shift in the boundary occurred over the weekend with improving weather as the sun returned Saturday afternoon and for most of the day on Sunday. For the period, the state average temperature was one degree above normal.

PRECIPITATION AND TEMPERATURE DATA

The highest temperature reported was 85 degrees at Beaufort on October 21. The lowest temperature was 44 degrees at Lake Jocasee the morning of October 22. The heaviest official 24-hour rainfall reported was 1.42" at Ridgeville ending at 7:00 a.m. on October 22. The average statewide rainfall for the period was 0.4.”

                   Precipitation
                Period   2002  Deviation*     Temperature
Location         Total  Total   From Avg.   Maximum   Minimum	
Greer             0.26  36.10       6.0B       71       52                       	              	
Columbia          0.32  39.15       2.5B       74       56
Florence          0.15  31.45       6.9B       77       54	        
Charleston        0.28  49.80       4.5A       79       52
N Myrtle Beach    0.64  32.07       6.9B       77       55
Augusta, Ga.      0.53  31.72       6.7B       75       55 
A=Above, B=Below                                                                       
                                                                                                  
          

Note: Weekly rainfall amounts are for the 24-hour period ending midnight Sunday.

SOIL

4 inch depth average soil temperature: Columbia 70 degrees.

RIVERS AND SURF

South Carolina river stages are near to below normal.
Surf temperatures at Myrtle Beach and Savannah will average around 72 degrees.