The period started on Monday, March 2, with a high-pressure system located off the coast, and the southeasterly flow led to increasing moisture across the region. Rainfall was minimal overnight into Tuesday, and showers developed by the late afternoon as a cold front approached the state, increasing the rain chances and the possibility of isolated thunderstorms. The National Weather Service (NWS) station at the Greenwood County Airport recorded a 24-hour total of 1.32 inches by midnight on Tuesday. Temperatures through the first portion of the week were warmer during the overnight hours due to cloud cover and precipitation, with low temperatures in the upper 40s to mid-50s. Daytime highs climbed into the upper 50s to near 70s across much of the state during the middle of the week. A low pressure developed along a stalled front near the Gulf of Mexico and tracked toward the Carolinas, bringing widespread rain across the area through Friday morning. On Thursday, emergency managers in Beaufort County reported roads in the Bluffton area were impassable due to flooding. Heavy rainfall impacted portions of Charleston County, closing some low-lying roads near Summerville, while many streets in the Charleston downtown district were impassable due to the heavy rain.
By Friday, March 6, the low moved offshore, and a robust high pressure started to build into the region. Two-day CoCoRaHS totals from the Lowcountry ending on Friday morning ranged from two to five inches. Five observers in the Bluffton area reported over five inches, with one observer recording 5.85 inches over the 48 hours. Breezy conditions were reported across the state. One person was injured in Jasper County when a tree fell on their car, around the same time the Beaufort County Airport reported a 40 mph wind gust, and other stations along the coast recorded gusts up to 45 mph.
With high pressure in control of the weather pattern, dry and sunny conditions, with colder temperatures, were forecast for the weekend. Minimum temperatures on Saturday and Sunday were in the upper 20s to mid-30s across the state but rebounded into the mid to upper 50s during the day.
(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 | 1.94 | 17.19 | 8.2 |
| Greer Airport | 1.43 | 18.05 | 9.1 |
| Charlotte, NC Airport | 0.97 | 11.54 | 3.7 |
| Columbia Metro Airport | 2.25 | 13.57 | 5.3 |
| Orangeburg Airport | 2.55 | 11.10 | 2.5 |
| Augusta, GA Airport | 2.75 | 14.48 | 5.5 |
| Florence Airport | 1.35 | 10.98 | 3.9 |
| North Myrtle Beach Airport | 2.19 | 9.96 | 1.9 |
| Charleston Air Force Base | 2.71 | 9.20 | 1.6 |
| Savannah, GA Airport | 5.51 | 11.78 | 4.4 |
| *Weekly precipitation totals ending midnight Sunday. M - denotes total with missing values. |
4-inch depth soil temperature: Clinton: 45 degrees. Columbia: 52 degrees. Barnwell: 45 degrees. Mullins: 42 degrees.
A cold front and low-pressure system during the period brought heavy rain to much of the state. Most of the rain fell between Tuesday morning and late Thursday afternoon, with the highest totals reported in portions of the Central Savannah River Area (CSRA) and the Lowcountry. Localized portions of Beaufort and Jasper counties reported rainfall totals between five and six inches. The Piedmont and Upstate regions received up to an inch and a half, allowing the area to recover from weeks of persistent heavy rainfall.
With limited rainfall measured the headwaters of the state’s watersheds during the period, river and stream gauges reported lower values of streamflow across portions of the Pee Dee and Santee Basins. However, streamflow levels were still higher than normal due to the multiple weeks of rain during the winter. Most of the river gauges north of the Fall Line reported no flooding, though there were still some gauges across the Coastal Plain at major and minor flood but were slowly falling.
