The main weather story for the week was the unsettled conditions and above average temperatures. On Monday, March 9, high pressure centered offshore provided an increase of moisture into the region, along with a warming trend. Morning temperatures were up to ten degrees cooler than normal with lows in the mid to upper 30s, with 20s in reported in more mountainous locations. Scattered showers developed across the state on Tuesday, but amounts were lower than what had been recorded in previous weeks. The increased moisture and cloudiness kept overnight temperatures in the mid to upper 50s, well above normal for the beginning of March. These higher than normal minimum temperatures continued through the remainder of the period. A cold front approached the area late on Wednesday, leading to additional shower activity with a few isolated storms.
By Thursday, March 12, the front stalled across the Southeast, providing unsettled weather across the region and keeping up the chances for showers, along with above normal temperatures, to round out the work week. Most of the rainfall during the period occurred on Thursday and Friday, with stations in Anderson County recording over half an inch. High temperatures climbed into the upper 70s in portions of the Upstate, and into the low 80s at some locations including the National Weather Service (NWS) stations at the Charleston International Airport and the Columbia Metropolitan Airport.
Light rainfall was reported as a weak cold front pushed through the state late Friday into Saturday and high pressure moved back into the region. Under cloudy skies, the overnight lows remained high, with many stations reporting values in the upper 50s to low 60s, nearly ten to fifteen degrees above normal. However, the daytime temperatures rose to more seasonable conditions, reaching into the upper 60s to low 70s.
(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 | 0.28 | 17.1=47 | 7.5 |
| Greer Airport | 0.10 | 18.15 | 8.1 |
| Charlotte, NC Airport | 0.04 | 11.58 | 2.8 |
| Columbia Metro Airport | 0.01 | 13.58 | 4.5 |
| Orangeburg Airport | 0.00 | 11.10 | 1.6 |
| Augusta, GA Airport | 0.01 | 14.49 | 4.5 |
| Florence Airport | 0.36 | 11.34 | 6.0 |
| North Myrtle Beach Airport | 0.00 | 9.96 | 1.0 |
| Charleston Air Force Base | 0.00 | 9.20 | 0.8 |
| Savannah, GA Airport | 0.01 | 11.79 | 3.5 |
| *Weekly precipitation totals ending midnight Sunday. M - denotes total with missing values. |
4-inch depth soil temperature: Clinton: 54 degrees. Columbia: 61 degrees. Barnwell: 57 degrees. Mullins: 56 degrees.
After weeks of steady rain, much of the state reported less than a tenth of an inch of rainfall during the period. Much of the rain came from scattered storms: in the Lowcountry near Beaufort and Jasper counties, and in Oconee and Pickens counties in the Upstate. With limited rainfall measured over 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 that fell during the previous months. Most of the river gauges across the state continued to drop back out of flood stage, with gauges along the Edisto, Pee Dee, Santee, and Savannah at major and minor flood stage, but were slowly falling.
