WEEKLY SOUTH CAROLINA WEATHER 2018

March 19, 2018 - March 25, 2018

WEATHER SUMMARY:

On Monday, March 19, surface low pressure over southern Georgia produced a solid, day-long overcast with embedded rainshowers. Darlington began the day with a morning low temperature of 40 degrees. Florence and Charleston had an afternoon high temperature of 71 degrees. Rainfall at the Oconee County Regional airport totaled to 1.05 inches. The Charleston Airport reported a half inch of rain. A strong cold front on March 20 produced a pre-dawn tornado in Allendale County. The EF0 rated tornado touched down at 3:43 AM into the tops of trees between SC Highway 3 and Alleluia Road. The 75-yard wide tornado traveled for 0.37 miles. The NWS damage survey estimated the maximum wind speed to be 75 mph, and noted damage confined to just isolated snapped and small downed trees. As the front reached the coast, convection intensified and produced 1-1.75 inch hail from Beaufort to Horry County. Hailstones measuring 2 inches in diameter fell on Daufuskie Island. Ninety Nine Islands reported receiving 1.37 inches of precipitation. Temperatures on March 20th, the first day of spring, ranged from morning low of 40 degrees at Jocassee to an afternoon high of 83 degrees at Orangeburg. Winds gusted to 44mph from the west at Columbia Metro Airport, and on March 21st west winds again gusted to 42 mph at Folly Beach and 40 mph at Aiken.

Less active, cooler conditions persisted for the rest of the week under a ridge of Canadian high pressure. Jocassee reported a morning low temperature of 30 degrees on March 21. The afternoon high temperature at the Beaufort Marine Corps Air Station was 61 degrees. On March 22, The Greenwood County Airport had a morning low of 26 degrees, and the COOP observer at Table Rock reported a trace of snow. Columbia and Charleston reached a high temperature of 66 degrees on March 23. On March 24, Lake Greenwood started the weekend with a morning low temperature of 25 degrees, and despite mostly cloudy skies, Orangeburg reached a high temperature of 71 degrees. The NWS office in Greer reported a Saturday rain total of 0.24 inches. With surface low pressure to the west of the state, cloudy, cool conditions persisted on March 25. Santuck had a morning low of 36 degrees. The airport in Greenwood County reported a rainfall total of 0.35 inches and Charleston finished the week off with a high temperature of 64 degrees.

(Note: The highest and lowest official temperatures and highest precipitation totals provided below are based on observations from the National Weather Service Cooperative Observer network and the National Weather Service's Forecast Offices.)
The highest official temperature reported was 83 degrees at Orangeburg and Cades on March 20.
The lowest official temperature reported was 25 degrees at Lake Greenwood on March 24.
The heaviest official 24-hour precipitation reported was 1.40 inches at Summerville during the period ending at 7 AM on March 21.
The state average precipitation for the seven-day period was 1.00 inches.

PRECIPITATION:

SOIL TEMPERATURES:

4-inch depth soil temperature: Clinton: 49 degrees. Columbia: 56 degrees. Barnwell: 48 degrees. Mullins: 41 degrees.

RIVER STAGES:

Upstate river stages were below normal to normal.
Midlands and Pee Dee river stages were much below normal to below normal.
Lowcountry river stages were much below normal to below normal.

COASTAL OCEAN TEMPERATURES:

Charleston Harbor water temperature: 58.3 degrees.
Fripp Nearshore Buoy (Station 41033): 58.8 degrees.