On Monday afternoon, the Clemson Airport recorded a mild high temperature of 77 degrees. Fall color, according to park rangers at the state’s highest mountain elevations, was described as "peaking." All South Carolina airport observation sites reported sunny, clear blue skies during the daylight hours of Tuesday. Clarks Hill warmed up to 79 degrees. The dry, stable weather pattern continued through Thursday with daily high temperatures slowly rising to or above 80 degrees. Andrews, Cades and Allendale recorded 81 degrees on Wednesday as did N Myrtle Beach, Summerville and Sandy Run on the following day. Clouds began arriving from the west on Friday ahead of an approaching cold front. Scattered showers formed along the boundary as it passed during the overnight hours. Most locations were left without rain but Greenwood received 0.66 inches and Chester was within a brief downpour of 0.62 inches. Clearing, windy weather was observed Saturday afternoon with steadily falling temperatures. On Sunday morning, the mercury fell to its lowest of the season. Freezing values were reported from Edgefield County and eastward through Sumter County and Marion County. The McEntire Air National Guard Airport in Eastover and the Florence Regional Airport both recorded a Sunday morning sub-freezing 31 degrees. There were public reports of "ground frost" in Sumter and "rooftop frost" as far south as Summerville. Clinton, Orangeburg and Beaufort's Sunday high temperature made it to just 62 degrees. The state average temperature for the seven-day period was two degrees below normal.
The highest official temperature reported was 83 degrees at Pinopolis on October 25. The lowest official temperature reported was 27 degrees at Pelion on October 30. The heaviest official 24-hour rainfall reported was 0.76 inches at Pickens ending at 7:00 a.m. on October 29. The state average rainfall for the period was 0.2 inches.
PRECIPITATION:
Precipitation
Weekly Jan 1 Departure
Total Total from Avg
Greer AP 0.37 37.60 -1.7
Anderson AP 0.33 28.96 -7.5
Columbia Metro AP 0.12 33.83 -4.7
Orangeburg AP 0.01 33.96 -6.5
Charlotte, NC AP 0.65 37.77 2.6
Augusta, GA Bush AP 0.03 26.52 -10.8
Florence AP 0.01 25.38 -11.8
N Myrtle Beach AP 0.00 29.54 -15.9
Charleston AP 0.01 34.96 -10.4
Savannah, GA AP 0.07 32.98 -9.6
Weekly rainfall totals ending midnight Sunday.
SOIL:
4-inch depth soil temperature: Columbia 64 degrees, Charleston 65 degrees.
RIVERS AND SURF:
South Carolina river stages were near to below normal. Ocean water temperatures at Springmaid Pier Myrtle Beach were reported at 65 degrees.
