The cold front that stalled over the area during the weekend continued to provide unsettled weather and warmer than normal temperatures across the state through the first part of the week. Morning temperatures started in the mid-60s and rose into the low 70s during the day. Lightning caused a house fire early Monday morning in downtown Newberry. The heavy rain led to flooding and road closures in portions of Greenwood County. Some CoCoRaHS observers in the area reported 24-hour totals of over two inches and 48-hour totals of over four inches. In the Pee Dee, a mid-day thunderstorm produced a short-lived EF1 tornado, with maximum winds of 90 mph that damaged cars in the parking lot of Loris High School. Highs on Tuesday and Wednesday reached the mid-60s in parts of the Upstate and upper 70s at the coast, nearly 20 degrees above normal for mid-January. National Weather Service (NWS) stations in Beaufort and Charleston counties set record highs on Tuesday, reaching 80 degrees, which was three degrees short of the all-time January maximum temperature record for Charleston (83 degrees), and short of the 86 degree record for Beaufort. During the three days, more than 40 high minimum temperature records across the state were broken, including a new record of 64 degrees at the NWS station in Darlington, breaking the previous record of 57 degrees set back on January 13, 1972.
On Thursday, January 16, the pattern started to shift as an approaching cold front was able to dislodge that stalled front out of the area. While high and low temperatures were still more than 15 degrees above normal on Thursday, drier air, with more seasonable high temperatures, was on tap for Friday. Low temperatures on Friday morning ranged from the upper 30s to mid-40s and were a stark change from lows in the 60s earlier in the week. Temperatures felt brisk during the afternoon, only reaching the low to mid-50s across the state.
Another low-pressure system developed to the west and lifted across the Great Lakes over the weekend, bringing southerly flow across the region. Cloudy and cool conditions dominated the weather on Saturday as moisture returned across the region. Total rainfall amounts from the frontal passage were less than half an inch. However, with cooler air in place, there was a slight risk of freezing rain in higher elevations of the Upstate during the mid to late morning hours. As the front pushed through the state drier air streamed into the region and high pressure centered near Tennessee. Temperatures dropped Sunday night, as the pattern supported much colder temperatures that would continue into the beginning of the new work week.
(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 | 1.68 | 4.60 | 2.3 |
| Greer Airport | 1.82 | 5.41 | 3.1 |
| Charlotte, NC Airport | 1.24 | 3.08 | 1.0 |
| Columbia Metro Airport | 0.99 | 3.88 | 1.7 |
| Orangeburg Airport | 0.33 | 1.94 | -0.3 |
| Augusta, GA Airport | 0.34 | 2.67 | 0.3 |
| Florence Airport | 1.43 | 3.00 | 1.0 |
| North Myrtle Beach Airport | 0.70 | 0.97 | -1.1 |
| Charleston Air Force Base | 0.11 | 0.43 | -1.8 |
| Savannah, GA Airport | Trace | 0.88 | -1.3 |
| *Weekly precipitation totals ending midnight Sunday. M - denotes total with missing values. |
4-inch depth soil temperature: Clinton: 40 degrees. Columbia: 54 degrees. Barnwell: 56 degrees. Mullins: 39
Most of the rainfall during the period was the result of a stalled frontal boundary that lingered across the state at the beginning of the week. Portions of the Lowcountry and Pee Dee continued to miss out on the substantial rainfall, recording less than a quarter of an inch over the seven days. Much of the area north and west of the Fall Line picked up at least half an inch of rain with some portions of the Upstate reporting more than two inches of rainfall. With rain falling in the headwaters of the state’s watersheds, the rivers and streams continued to report above normal to high streamflow levels due to the continued wet pattern. Many river gauges below the Fall Line ended the period in either action or minor flood stage.
