SOUTH CAROLINA WEATHER AND CLIMATE

December 22 - 28, 2003


WEATHER SUMMARY

Winter officially began early Monday morning and on a cold note with sub-freezing temperatures. Afternoons on Monday and Tuesday were mild as full sun helped push high temperatures into the 60's. On Wednesday a frontal boundary eased into South Carolina during the late afternoon producing scattered, light rains. Christmas morning Thursday turned much colder with low's in the 20's and afternoon high's holding in the 40's. Freezing mornings with frost followed through the weekend. Light to calm winds allowed daily maximum temperatures to edge just over normal and into the 60's. The statewide average temperature for the period was one degree below normal.

The highest temperature reported was 70 degrees at Allendale on December 23. The lowest temperature was 18 degrees at Table Rock on morning of December 22 and at Chester on December 26. The heaviest 24-hour rainfall reported was 0.32" at Caesars Head ending at 7:00 a.m. on December 24. The average statewide rainfall for the period was 0.1”

PRECIPITATION AND TEMPERATURE DATA

                             Precipitation                 
                       Weekly   Jan 1  Deviation     
                        Total   Total   From Avg
         Greer           0.02    63.1       13.2          
      Columbia           0.02    56.5        8.6
   Augusta, GA           0.01    52.9        8.6           
      Florence           0.00    40.5       -2.3  
  Myrtle Beach           0.22    55.6       10.3            
    Charleston           0.01    51.0       -0.2  
             
                

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

SOIL

4 inch depth average soil temperature: Columbia 44 degrees.

RIVERS AND SURF

South Carolina river stages were near to below normal. Surf temperatures at Myrtle Beach
and Savannah will average around 48 degrees.


sco@water.dnr.state.sc.us
http://water.dnr.state.sc.us/climate/sco/weekly/wk122803.html