On Monday, January 9, high pressure was in control of the weather and would last through the middle of the week. Patchy morning fog gave way to clear skies, with temperatures near normal, as morning lows in the upper 30s warmed into the upper 50s and low 60s by the late afternoon. Conditions on Tuesday and Wednesday were like Monday, though temperatures continued to warm. By Wednesday afternoon, high temperatures were in the mid to upper 60s, between ten and fifteen degrees warmer than average, with 70 degrees reported by the National Weather Service (NWS) stations at the Beaufort MCAS and Charleston International Airport.
The main weather story for the period was the severe weather observed across the state on Thursday, January 12, ahead of a strong cold front that spawned a long-track EF3 tornado in Alabama. Locally, the storms produced EF1 tornadoes in Greenwood and Laurens counties. The storms caused wind damage across the Upstate, including a 75-mph wind gust recorded at the Greenwood County Airport. The front and associated storms produced most of the precipitation during the period, with between half an inch and an inch reported in the Midlands and Upstate.
The front finally pushed through the state on Friday morning, and some scattered showers were reported in the Lowcountry and Pee Dee. As the system moved offshore, the clouds cleared skies behind the front, as high pressure with cooler and drier air built back into the region. The mostly sunny skies over the weekend did little to warm the temperatures, as they were five to ten degrees below normal. A few stations in the Upstate measured lows below freezing temperatures on Saturday morning, and by Sunday morning, most of the reporting stations measured minimum temperatures in the mid-20s.
(Note: The highest and lowest official temperatures and highest precipitation totals provided below are based on observations from the National Weather Service (NWS) Cooperative Observer network and the National Weather Service's Forecast Offices.)| Weekly* | Since Jan 1 | Departure | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anderson Airport | 0.92 | 4.65 | 2.7 |
| Greer Airport | 0.64 | 4.58 | 2.5 |
| Charlotte, NC Airport | 0.68 | 2.87 | -1.1 |
| Columbia Metro Airport | 0.40 | 1.60 | -0.1 |
| Orangeburg 2 (COOP) | 0.65 | 1.41 | -0.4 |
| Augusta, GA Airport | 0.55 | 2.08 | 0.2 |
| Florence Airport | 0.30 | 1.05 | -0.5 |
| North Myrtle Beach Airport | 0.13 | 0.27 | -1.1 | Charleston Air Force Base | 0.33 | 0.67 | -0.9 |
| Savannah, GA Airport | 0.35 | 0.78 | -0.7 |
| *Weekly precipitation totals ending midnight Sunday. M - denotes total with missing values. s - denotes total with suspect data. |
4-inch depth soil temperature: Clinton: 40 degrees. Columbia: 50 degrees. Barnwell: 42 degrees. Mullins: 540 degrees.
Another cold front provided additional rainfall across much of the state, with widespread totals of over half an inch recorded in the Central Savannah River Area, Midlands, and Upstate. Some portions of the Lowcountry near the Savannah River measured nearly half an inch. However, most of the Lowcountry and Pee Dee measured less than a quarter of an inch of rain for the second period in a row. According to the US Drought Monitor, drought (D1) and abnormally dry (D0) conditions persisted in the Lowcountry and Pee Dee regions, with D1 conditions expanding across the region.
Additional precipitation kept the 14-day averages for stream flow gauges well above average in portions of the Midlands and Upstate. Flows along the Broad River and Saluda, including their tributaries, were higher than in previous weeks, but river heights remained below flood stage. As the water moved through the river basins, flows increased on the lower Santee and Savannah rivers, and river heights approached a minor flood stage. A few gauges within the ACE and Pee Dee River basins reported flows below average, including gauges on the Coosawhatchie, Salkehatchie, Little Pee Dee, and Waccamaw. Elsewhere, the river heights on the state’s rivers were observed below the flood stage.
