SOUTH CAROLINA WEATHER AND CLIMATE

January 6 - 12, 2003

WEATHER SUMMARY

Slow warming occurred early in the week and by Thursday temperatures had climbed to a springlike 70 plus degrees. A Canadian airmass followed a cold front on Friday with a sharp drop in temperatures for the weekend. On both Saturday and Sunday, mostly cloudy skies and brisk northwest winds chilled morning temperature readings into the 20's and held afternoon high temperatures in the 30's upstate to the lower 40's along the coast. The average statewide temperature for the period was one degree above normal.

PRECIPITATION AND TEMPERATURE DATA

The highest temperature reported was 74 degrees at Allendale, Chappells, Orangeburg, Givhans, and Pee Dee on January 9. The lowest temperature was 18 degrees at Caesars Head on the morning of January 7. The heaviest official 24-hour rainfall reported was 0.30"at Salem ending at 7:00 a.m. on January 10. The average statewide rainfall for the period was 0.0."

                     Precipitation
               Period    2003   Deviation*       Temperature
Location        Total   Total    From Avg.     Maximum    Minimum	
Greer            0.00    0.46        1.2B         69        24                     Columbia         0.00    0.05        1.7B         71        27
Florence         0.00    0.28        1.3B         73        28	        
Charleston       0.00    0.26        1.3B         71        27
N Myrtle Beach   0.00    0.71        0.7A         69        30
Augusta, Ga.     0.00    0.10        1.6B         72        23
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 49 degrees.

RIVERS AND SURF

South Carolina river stages range from near to above normal. Surf temperatures at Myrtle Beach and Savannah will average around 50 degrees.