An upper-level disturbance and surface boundary produced thunderstorms on Monday, May 16. The scattered storms caused some wind damage in Cherokee, Spartanburg, and York counties, and storm spotters in the area reported pea to quarter-sized hail near Spartanburg. Temperatures through midweek were slightly warmer than average, with highs in the upper 80s at the coast and the low to mid-90s across the state. Overnight temperatures were mainly in the upper 50s to low 60s, though some places in the Upstate observed minimum temperatures near 50 degrees on Wednesday morning.
The Charleston Harbor Tidal Gauge recorded high astronomical tides ranging between 7.48 feet and 7.86 feet MLLW starting on Monday, which lasted through Wednesday evening. The King Tides caused moderate flooding to low-lying areas of the coast, and there were reports of flooding in downtown Charleston along Lockwood Avenue, Broad Street, Fishburne, and Hagood Avenue.
Hot, summer-like weather closed out the workweek, with high temperatures in the mid to upper 90s, up to fifteen degrees warmer than usual. While there were no broken temperature records, some stations nearly reached 100 degrees, including the National Weather Service station at the Florence Regional Airport, which reported a maximum of 98 degrees on Thursday. On Friday, high temperatures were not as high but still reached the mid-90s at the NWS stations in Charleston, Columbia, and Florence.
On Saturday, moisture returned ahead of a cold front that approached the state over the weekend, and thunderstorms in the Midlands and Pee Dee regions produced strong winds and golf-ball-sized hail. Heavy rain in downtown Columbia caused flooding in low-lying areas, and a USGS gauge on Rocky Creek Branch crested at 11.76 ft, nearly 4.5 ft above flood stage. On Sunday evening, an area of convection over the Lowcountry caused heavy rain in portions of Beaufort and Jasper counties. CoCoRaHS observers in Hilton Head reported rainfall totals from two to three inches from the complex of thunderstorms.
(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 | 0.09 | 16.04 | -2.4 |
| Greer Airport | 0.01 | 20.96 | 1.6 |
| Charlotte, NC Airport | 0.59 | 17.90 | 1.2 |
| Columbia Metro Airport | 1.22 | 15.80 | 0.2 |
| Orangeburg 2 (COOP) | 1.53s | 18.95s | 1.4s |
| Augusta, GA Airport | 0.31 | 15.63 | -0.8 |
| Florence Airport | 0.10 | 14.84 | 0.1 |
| North Myrtle Beach Airport | 0.85 | 13.26 | -1.3 | Charleston Air Force Base | 1.40 | 9.94 | -5.2 |
| Savannah, GA Airport | 0.64 | 8.00 | -7.2 |
| *Weekly precipitation totals ending midnight Sunday. M - denotes total with missing values. s - denotes total with suspect data. |
4-inch depth soil temperature: Clinton: 68 degrees. Columbia: 71 degrees. Barnwell: Not Available. Mullins: 67 degrees.
Rainfall totals varied across the state, with most locations south of the Fall Line recording less than a quarter of an inch of rain, and less than a tenth of an inch was measured in the Upstate. The highest rainfall amounts fell again in the Midlands and portions of the interior Pee Dee region, where widespread totals were closer to half an inch. A few higher amounts were measured under localized thunderstorms in Calhoun, Lexington, Richland, and Orangeburg counties. With the generally decreased precipitation over the past few weeks, the United State Drought Monitor introduced a new area of abnormally dry (D0) conditions in the Upstate, along the headwaters of the Savannah River. Severe drought (D2) conditions persisted in Beaufort and Jasper counties, while D0 and moderate drought (D1) designations remained in place across areas east of Interstate 95.
The continued lack of widespread precipitation caused an additional drop in the streamflow values across much of the state. The 14-day streamflow averages at many of the gauges of the four main watersheds in the state fell below average. At least half a dozen streamflow gauges recorded average flows below 10% of their normal streamflow; three of these gauges were in the Pee Dee Watershed. All the state’s rivers observed heights below the flood stage.
