The week started on Monday, January 20, with dry conditions and below normal temperatures dominating the weather pattern through Thursday. Most locations reported minimum temperatures below freezing, with values between five and degrees below normal on Monday and Tuesday nights. The only locations that escaped the bitterly cold overnight temperatures were the ones directly along the coast. Maximum temperatures struggled to reach the mid-40s on Monday and Tuesday, well below the typical mid to upper 50s for the end of January. The National Weather Services (NWS) station in Walterboro reported a 24-hour maximum temperature on Wednesday morning of 40 degrees, breaking the record low maximum temperature for the day. The lowest temperatures of the period were observed on Wednesday morning, with some portions of the Upstate recording temperatures in the teens. By the afternoon, the temperatures began to moderate, with daytime highs climbing into the upper 40s to mid-50s.
On Thursday, January 23, the cold, Canadian high pressure moved off the coast, shifting the winds out of the south and helping to bring moisture back into the region. Morning lows were in the low to mid-30s, and rose into the mid-50s by late afternoon, as a light rain started to overspread the state. A warm front south of the state pushed northward on Friday ahead of an approaching cold front. Scattered morning showers gave way to more widespread rain before a strong line of thunderstorms moved through the state. Multiple mobile homes were damaged in Chesterfield County near Patrick, and the National Weather Service survey team out of the Columbia office determined the damage was the result of straight-line winds with estimated maximum speeds of 75 mph.
Rainfall totals from the event ranged from 0.07 inches at the NWS station at the Charleston International Airport to 2.28 inches at the NWS station in Cleveland in Greenville County before the rain moved out of the area by mid-morning on Saturday, January 25. Behind the front, drier conditions returned to the state for the remainder of the weekend and into the beginning of the new work week. Temperatures over the weekend were near normal, with lows in the mid-30s to low 40s and highs in the mid-50s to low 60s
(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 | 1.02 | 5.62 | 2.5 |
| Greer Airport | 1.15 | 6.56 | 3.1 |
| Charlotte, NC Airport | 1.04 | 4.11 | 1.02 |
| Columbia Metro Airport | 0.68 | 4.56 | 1.6 |
| Orangeburg Airport | 0.32 | 2.26 | -1.0 |
| Augusta, GA Airport | 0.57 | 3.24 | 0.0 |
| Florence Airport | 0.30 | 3.30 | 0.6 |
| North Myrtle Beach Airport | 0.32 | 1.29 | -1.7 |
| Charleston Air Force Base | 0.07/td> | 0.50 | -2.6 |
| Savannah, GA Airport | 0.22 | 1.10 | -2.0 |
| *Weekly precipitation totals ending midnight Sunday. M - denotes total with missing values. |
4-inch depth soil temperature: Clinton: 45 degrees. Columbia: 54 degrees. Barnwell: 47 degrees. Mullins: 42 degrees.
For a second week in a row, the majority of the rainfall during the period fell in areas north and west of the Interstate 95 corridor, with reports of at least half an inch of rain, though some locations in the Upstate had localized totals over two inches. The rainfall was the result of a warm front that moved across the state on Thursday evening and a cold front on Friday. 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. With rain falling steadily over the headwaters of the state’s watersheds over the past few weeks, 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.
