On Monday, March 29, high pressure was in place across the region as the cold front that impacted the state over the weekend moved offshore. The clear skies and calm conditions only lasted a day, with morning lows in the 40s and maximum temperatures reaching the mid- to upper 60s. A warm front lifted northward across the state on Tuesday, causing increased cloudiness and scattered light rainfall throughout the day. Temperatures were a bit warmer than Monday, rising from the 40s into the mid-70s by later afternoon.
There was a risk of severe weather on Wednesday, as an intense cold front approached the state and triggered a couple of rounds of showers and thunderstorms. Daytime temperatures reached the low 70s in the Upstate and the mid-80s elsewhere in the state. A storm spotter reported a funnel cloud near Aiken, and lightning started a structural fire in Richland County. Hail was observed in Aiken, Berkeley, Dorchester, and Edgefield counties, with golf-ball-sized hail (1.75-inch diameter) reported near Goose Creek and Trenton. Stations along the coast recorded wind gusts up to 50 mph from some of the stronger thunderstorms.
After the cold front pushed through the Southeast, a robust high pressure settled into the area for the remainder of the period. The breezy conditions and low relative humidity values created an increased fire danger risk across the state. The cold and dry airmass also prompted the NWS offices to issue freeze warnings for Thursday night and Friday night for much of the state. On Friday morning, low temperatures dropped below freezing in interior portions of the state and only rebounded into the low 50s, nearly twenty degrees below normal for the beginning of April. The National Weather Service (NWS) station in Little Mountain tied the daily record minimum temperature of 28 degrees, set back in 1924. The colder than normal temperatures persisted into Saturday morning, with morning lows at Charleston International and North Mrytle Beach dropping to 31 degrees, and locations further inland reported overnight temperatures in the mid-20s. Afternoon temperatures began to moderate, reaching the 70s by Sunday.
(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 | 0.45 | 10.42 | -2.1 |
| Greer Airport | 0.74 | 14.52 | 1.7 |
| Charlotte, NC Airport | 0.48 | 13.61 | 2.4 |
| Columbia Metro Airport | 0.69 | 15.14 | 3.8 |
| Orangeburg Airport | 0.15 | 9.62M | -2.1M |
| Augusta, GA Airport | 0.49 | 16.16 | 3.4 |
| Florence Airport | 0.83 | 14.81 | 5.0 |
| North Myrtle Beach Airport | 0.57 | 13.85 | 2.3 |
| Charleston Air Force Base | 0.38 | 12.08 | 1.3 |
| Savannah, GA Airport | 0.16 | 11.63 | 1.0 |
| *Weekly precipitation totals ending midnight Sunday. M - denotes total with missing values. |
4-inch depth soil temperature: Clinton: 52 degrees. Columbia: 59 degrees. Barnwell: 50 degrees. Mullins: 50 degrees.
Rainfall totals over the period ranged from less than a tenth of an inch in locations around the Charlotte Metro area to three inches in the mountainous portions of the Upstate. The majority of the heavy rain fell on Wednesday and Thursday. CoCoRaHS observers north of the Interstate 85 corridor recorded he highest values, and those in the greater Charleston area recorded over an inch of rain.
With widespread rainfall in the Upstate, streamflow values were much above normal, especially on portions of the Broad and Saluda rivers. Rainfall in the North Carolina portions of the Broad and Pee Dee basins kept streamflow values near normal. As the rain continued to move through the system, river stage heights began to fall slowly on the Pee Dee and Wateree rivers. The gauge on the Pee Dee at Pee Dee continued to drop into minor flood stage, while gauges on the lower Savannah recorded an increase in river heights.
