The cold front that brought rainy conditions over the weekend shifted offshore on Monday, March 13, and clouds gradually cleared throughout the day as drier air funneled into the region. Maximum temperatures were up to fifteen degrees below average, and high temperatures reached only the mid to upper 50s. With the influence of the Canadian air mass, hard freezes were possible during the first part of the period. Most National Weather Service Offices across the state had issued freeze watches and warnings through Wednesday morning. Low temperatures on Tuesday were five to ten degrees below average, and some locations across the Upstate reported temperatures around freezing. Daytime temperatures stayed cool for the middle of March, up to fifteen degrees below normal, with maximum temperatures in the low to mid-50s and morning temperatures around freezing in the Upstate.
Wednesday, March 15, was the coldest night, with temperatures up to twenty degrees below normal in some locations. Minimum temperatures dropped below freezing across most of the state, with some locations reporting lows in the low to mid-20s. Only stations near the immediate coast escaped sub-freezing temperatures. High temperatures across the state were slightly warmer, near 60 degrees, but were still five to ten degrees below normal. Due to ideal radiational cooling conditions, many locations dropped below freezing again by Thursday morning. With the high pressure over the region, mostly sunny skies and near-normal temperatures were observed across the state. Rain chances increased overnight on Thursday as a slow-moving front approached from the west.
Friday was the warmest day of the week, with springlike temperatures, due to southerly flow ahead of another cold front. Breezy conditions ahead of the front produced wind gusts up to 48 mph along the Lowcountry coast. This front pushed through the Upstate by mid-afternoon and the Midlands by late Friday evening. By Saturday morning, lingering rain fell along the coast as the front pushed offshore. Mostly cloudy skies in the morning cleared throughout the day as a cool, high pressure moved back into the region over the weekend. Temperatures on Saturday and Sunday continued to be below average, with morning lows ranging from the upper 30s in the Upstate to the upper 40s at the coast, and high temperatures were in the low 50s to mid-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 | 0.44 | 13.18 | 3.0 |
| Greer Airport | 0.51 | 13.34 | 2.6 |
| Charlotte, NC Airport | 0.38 | 10.27 | 1.2 |
| Columbia Metro Airport | 0.67 | 10.96 | 1.8 |
| Orangeburg 2 (COOP) | 0.41 | 10.72 | 0.4 |
| Augusta, GA Airport | 0.64 | 14.07 | 4.0 |
| Florence Airport | 0.08 | 8.84 | 0.8 |
| North Myrtle Beach Airport | 0.25 | 6.91 | -1.5 | Charleston Air Force Base | 0.40 | 9.07 | 0.6 |
| Savannah, GA Airport | 0.98 | 9.95 | 1.7 |
| *Weekly precipitation totals ending midnight Sunday. M - denotes total with missing values. s - denotes total with suspect data. |
4-inch depth soil temperature: Clinton: 50 degrees. Columbia: 57 degrees. Barnwell: 51 degrees. Mullins: 55 degrees.
Most of the state recorded less than half an inch of rainfall, though portions of the Central Savannah River Area recorded between one and two inches of rain. Isolated parts of the Upstate measured more than an inch, with a few locations reporting close to an inch and a half. Elsewhere, rainfall was sparse in interior portions of the Pee Dee, especially near Chesterfield, Darlington, and Marlboro counties. Due to the lack of consistent rain, the most recent United States Drought Monitor map depicted some areas of the Pee Dee as having abnormally dry (D0) conditions.
The 14-day averages for stream flow values across much of the state started to decline due to the lack of widespread substantial rainfall across the region. Most stream flow gauges in the major river basins across the state reported values slightly below normal conditions. Additional gauges in the Pee Dee water basin dropped to much below normal flows. Most river heights returned to levels below the action stage.
