SOUTH CAROLINA WEATHER AND CLIMATE

December 18 - December 24, 2006


WEATHER SUMMARY

Warm, sunny days continued early in the week with a few sites reaching 80 degrees. Clouds increased on Wednesday ahead of a southward moving cold front. Cooling, east winds lowered daytime peak temperatures by nearly 20 degrees. Light showers were reported Thursday. Wet weather overspread the state on Friday morning with heavy rain amounts across central and north coastal counties. Southerly winds helped push afternoon temperatures over the 70-degree mark just before the official start of Winter 2006-2007 which began shortly after sunset. Showers were slow in exiting the Grand Strand beaches Saturday morning. Partly sunny skies were observed Sunday before rains returned late evening. For the period, the state average temperature was ten degrees above normal.

The highest official temperature reported was 80 degrees at Walhalla on December 18 and at Givhans on December 19. The lowest official temperature reported was 29 degrees at Lake Bowen on the morning of December 24. The heaviest official 24-hour rainfall reported was 3.51 inches at Edgefield ending at 7:00 a.m. on December 23. The average statewide rainfall for the period was 1.9 inches.

PRECIPITATION AND TEMPERATURE DATA

                           
                                                     
                            Precipitation                    
                       Weekly   Jan 1  Deviation     
                        Total   Total   From Avg
         Greer           1.94   39.43     -9.9
      Columbia           1.76   42.15     -5.2
    Orangeburg           1.72   37.91     -9.5 
 Charlotte, NC           1.02   43.10      0.4             	
   Augusta, GA           2.93   38.58     -5.2  
      Florence           1.10   46.13      2.3
  Myrtle Beach           3.15   52.54      7.6
    Charleston           1.49   48.68     -2.0     
  Savannah, GA           1.26   33.13    -15.7






Weekly rainfall totals ending midnight Sunday.  

SOIL: 4-inch depth average soil temperature: Columbia 56 degrees.

RIVERS AND SURF: South Carolina river stages were near normal. Ocean water temperatures at Springmaid Pier Myrtle Beach were reported at 57 degrees.


tylerw@dnr.sc.gov
http://water.dnr.state.sc.us/climate/sco/weekly/wk122406.html