Additional showers were observed on Monday, March 27, as the system from over the weekend exited the region. While the severe weather threat remained low, some slower-moving storms produced additional rain over areas that received over four inches of rain on Sunday, and flash flooding was reported in Sumter County. Temperatures were above average in the Upstate, with highs reaching the upper 70s, including 79 degrees at the National Weather Service (NWS) station at the Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport. On Tuesday, the cold front shifted south toward the Florida Panhandle, but a lingering boundary provided some scattered shower activity across the region.
By Wednesday, high pressure moved in behind the front, providing dry air and sunny skies. The drier weather continued through the remainder of the work week. Temperatures on Wednesday were cooler than normal, with overnight lows in the 40s and highs only reaching the mid-60s. Good radiational cooling conditions set up late Wednesday night and lasted through Thursday morning, and temperatures at some locations dropped into the mid-30s, up to ten degrees below normal. The calm and dry weather persisted even as a weak cold front pushed through the region from the north, with highs in the upper 60s to low 70s. Another cool start on Friday, with lows in the upper 30s and low 40s, before warming up in the afternoon, with temperatures in the 80s at the coast and 70s elsewhere. Windy conditions and isolated showers were observed before an intense storm system approached from the west, funneling moisture back into the state.
A significant severe weather event occurred in parts of the Midwest and Southeast on Friday evening and into the early hours of Saturday morning. At the time of this report, there were over 100 confirmed tornadoes across the impacted area. The robust storm system that produced the severe weather moved through the state over the weekend, causing showers and isolated thunderstorms. Winds behind the front were gusty, reaching 40 mph in parts of the Upstate, and some wind damage was reported in Cherokee County. Another high pressure built in behind the front on Sunday, providing clear skies with seasonable temperatures, with morning lows in the upper 40s to low 50s and daytime highs in the low to mid-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 | 0.49 | 15.63 | 3.1 |
| Greer Airport | 0.93 | 15.27 | 2.6 |
| Charlotte, NC Airport | 0.65 | 11.25 | 0.4 |
| Columbia Metro Airport | 1.49 | 14.33 | 3.7 |
| Orangeburg 2 (COOP) | 1.31 | 12.10 | 0.2 |
| Augusta, GA Airport | 1.20 | 16.23 | 4.4 |
| Florence Airport | 3.09 | 12.85 | 3.4 |
| North Myrtle Beach Airport | 0.19 | 7.14 | -2.8 | Charleston Air Force Base | 0.16 | 9.38 | -0.7 |
| Savannah, GA Airport | 0.31 | 10.26 | 0.4 |
| *Weekly precipitation totals ending midnight Sunday. M - denotes total with missing values. s - denotes total with suspect data. |
4-inch depth soil temperature: Clinton: 57 degrees. Columbia: 62 degrees. Barnwell: 57 degrees. Mullins: 60 degrees.
A storm system moved through the region on March 26, causing heavy rain to fall across parts of the Central Savannah River Area (CSRA) and Midlands, with totals ranging between one and four inches of rain. Isolated parts of Richland and Sumter counties recorded up to six inches by the morning of Monday, March 27. Rainfall during the rest of the period totaled between half an inch and an inch in the CSRA, with sparse totals again in the Lowcountry and Pee Dee. The continued lack of consistent rain in the Pee Dee prompted an additional expansion of the region's abnormally dry (D0) conditions on the most recent United States Drought Monitor map.
The 14-day averages for stream flow values across the Midlands slightly increased due to the rainfall from the previous period. However, gauges elsewhere continued to show below-normal flows or decline due to the lack of widespread substantial rain across the region. However, most river heights reported levels below the action stage, except for a few gauges that received heavy rain at the beginning of the period.
