SOUTH CAROLINA WEATHER AND CLIMATE

December 17 - 23, 2001

WEATHER SUMMARY

After a sunny start to a warm Monday, clouds increased from west to east ahead of an approaching cold front and by late afternoon rainshowers were occurring. Gusty winds accompanied the rapidly moving boundary. Mostly sunny weather followed into Wednesday along with cooler temperatures. Another front entered the state on Thursday only to reenforce the cool conditions. No rain was reported with its passage. Hard freezes were observed on both Friday and Saturday mornings with low to mid-twenty readings common over inland sites. Sunday ended the week with a mix of clouds, sunshine and milder temperatures. For the period, the state average temperature was one degree above normal.

PRECIPITATION AND TEMPERATURE DATA

The highest temperature was 78 degrees at Allendale, Jamestown, Orangeburg and Summerville on December 17. The lowest temperature reported was 20 degrees at Chester on the morning of December 21. The greatest 24-hour rainfall was 1.34" at Caesars Head ending at 7:00 a.m. on December 18. The average statewide rainfall for the period was 0.4".

                    Precipitation
               Period    2001  Deviation*          Temperature
Location        Total   Total   From Avg.       Maximum   Minimum	
Greer            0.90   40.38       9.8B           64        25                         	              		
Columbia         0.17   27.98      20.9B           75        25
Florence         0.17   30.83      12.1B           75        24	        
Charleston       0.23   40.00      10.7B           77        29
N Myrtle Beach   0.14   39.57       9.4B           71        27
Augusta, Ga.     0.16   33.55      10.2B           77        23 
*A=Above, B=Below                                                                       
                                                                      
                                                    
                                                                                                                                                                                            

Note: Weekly rainfall amounts are for the prior 24-hrs ending 7 am Monday through ending 7 am Sunday.

SOIL

4 inch depth average soil temperature: Columbia 60 degrees.

RIVERS AND SURF

South Carolina river stages were near to below normal.
Surf temperatures at Myrtle Beach and Savannah will average around 59 degrees.