A weak high-pressure was in the region to start the period on Monday and Tuesday. Under mostly sunny skies, the weather was quiet and pleasant, with morning lows in the upper 40s to mid-50s and high temperatures reaching the mid- to upper 70s. The South Carolina Forestry Commission (SCFC) called for a Red Flag Fire Alert on Tuesday for the state through the remainder of the week due to favorable wildfire conditions.
With low relative humidity values and wind conditions on Wednesday, April 21, the SCFC reported multiple wildfires across the state. A wildfire northwest of Aiken prompted a local voluntary evacuation for the surrounding area and burned about 90 acres before it was contained. Two structures were damaged, and residents needed to evacuate a community near Loris in Horry County after a wildfire crossed the business route of Highway 9, burning approximately 100 acres. A debris burn sparked a wildfire that burned nearly 300 acres along Browns Ferry Road near Georgetown. Additional wildfires were reported on Thursday, including a 62-acre wildfire west-southwest of Aiken, a 30-acre wildfire near Dillon, and a 75-acre wildfire along Highway 521 in Williamsburg County.
As a strong high pressure settled into the area, many locations across the state observed morning temperatures up to twenty degrees colder than normal temperatures on Thursday morning. Lows ranged from the upper 20s in the Upstate to mid-30s at the coast. National Weather Service (NWS) stations north of the Fall Line reported new daily record low temperatures, including 28 degrees in Union and 30 degrees at the Anderson Airport. The daytime highs struggled to reach the mid-60s even under sunny skies. Lows on Friday were again well below normal and below freezing in some locations, causing light damage on early corn and some sensitive cold crops.
The high pressure gave way as low pressure moved into the region late Friday evening, producing showers and thunderstorms. A warm front approached from the south on Saturday, producing heavy rain across Beaufort, Hampton, and Jasper counties. Temperatures moderated back to near normal for the remainder of the weekend as another front reinforced dry conditions on 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 | 1.93 | 12.80 | -1.9 |
| Greer Airport | 1.40 | 16.43 | 1.3 |
| Charlotte, NC Airport | 1.12 | 15.14 | 1.8 |
| Columbia Metro Airport | 0.67 | 15.94 | 2.8 |
| Orangeburg Airport | 0.76 | 10.38M | -3.7M |
| Augusta, GA Airport | 1.49 | 17.73 | 3.3 |
| Florence Airport | 0.04 | 14.93 | 3.3 |
| North Myrtle Beach Airport | 0.04 | 15.15 | 1.6 |
| Charleston Air Force Base | 1.31 | 13.39 | 0.6 |
| Savannah, GA Airport | 2.41 | 14.14 | 1.3 |
| *Weekly precipitation totals ending midnight Sunday. M - denotes total with missing values. |
4-inch depth soil temperature: Clinton: 62 degrees. Columbia: 65 degrees. Barnwell: 58 degrees. Mullins: 51 degrees.
After an extended dry period, most of the state recorded precipitation on Saturday, with many locations reporting more than half an inch of rain. Isolated parts of Anderson, Oconee, and Pickens counties measured close to two inches of rain from the event. Two CoCoRaHS observers near Hilton Head in Beaufort County recorded more than three inches of rain. The rain was a welcome reprieve to areas that had started reporting abnormally dry conditions, as some locations were on pace to have one of their driest Aprils on record. However, not all portions of the state received the needed rain. Parts of the Pee Dee observed amounts less than a quarter of an inch of precipitation.
Despite the rain, most of the streamflow values across the state remained near normal values. Due to the continued lack of rainfall across the region over the recent periods, additional streamflow gauges on the Edisto River started to report below normal streamflow values, especially near Denmark and Givhans Ferry.
