Moisture associated with a surface trough and onshore flow helped develop scattered afternoon thunderstorms on Monday and Tuesday. By midweek and the first day of meteorological summer, dry and hot conditions were observed across the Palmetto State. Under sunny skies, high temperatures climbed into the mid to upper 90s. Thursday, June 2, was the hottest day of the period, with maximum temperatures up to fifteen degrees above average for the beginning of June. The National Weather Service (NWS) station at the Florence Regional Airport observed a new daily record high temperature of 100 degrees, breaking the previous record of 98 degrees, last reached in 2002. A few isolated showers and thunderstorms were observed across the state, and thunderstorms in Oconee County produced thunderstorm wind damage near Oakway.
A cold front started pushing through the state on Friday, producing some severe thunderstorms in the Upstate and Charlotte Metro area. There were reports of multiple downed trees and powerlines across Greenville, Laurens, Spartanburg, and York counties, with up to quarter-sized hail. Some Upstate locations were slightly cooler than those south of the Fall Line due to rain, including a maximum of 83 degrees reported at the NWS station at the Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport versus the high of 94 degrees at the NWS stations at the Charleston International Airport and Columbia Metropolitan Airport.
On Saturday, more seasonable temperatures and drier conditions were recorded across the Upstate and northern Midlands as a dry high pressure built into the region. Overnight lows were in the mid to upper 60s, while daytime high temperatures reached the mid-80s. The cold front stalled near the South Carolina coast, causing additional showers and thunderstorms in portions of the Lowcountry and Pee Dee. With dry conditions still in place, temperatures were slightly warmer on Sunday afternoon, and the warming trend would continue into the new workweek.
(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 | 0.24 | 18.61 | -1.7 |
| Greer Airport | 1.12 | 25.61 | 4.4 |
| Charlotte, NC Airport | 0.26 | 19.36 | 0.9 |
| Columbia Metro Airport | 0.00 | 16.56 | -1.0 |
| Orangeburg 2 (COOP) | 1.74s | 22.49s | 2.6s |
| Augusta, GA Airport | 0.21 | 17.85 | -0.5 |
| Florence Airport | 0.37 | 15.86 | -0.9 |
| North Myrtle Beach Airport | 2.37 | 16.12 | 0.0 | Charleston Air Force Base | 1.47 | 12.62 | -4.7 |
| Savannah, GA Airport | 0.81 | 9.38 | -8.3 |
| *Weekly precipitation totals ending midnight Sunday. M - denotes total with missing values. s - denotes total with suspect data. |
4-inch depth soil temperature: Clinton: not Available. Columbia: 77 degrees. Barnwell: 71 degrees. Mullins: Not Available.
Scattered showers on Monday and Tuesday produced rain in portions of the Lowcountry and Midlands. Most totals over the two days amounted to less than an inch. On Friday and into Saturday, the cold front passage provided more widespread shower activity that produced heavy rain in some isolated places, including between three and five inches of rain reported by CoCoRaHS observers in Georgetown and Horry counties. The rain helped ease worsening drought conditions in the Coastal Plain. The United States Drought Monitor removed the abnormally dry (D0) conditions in the Upstate due to the recent rain in the region. However, severe drought (D2) conditions persisted in Beaufort and Jasper counties, and moderate drought (D1) designations remained in place across areas east of Interstate 95.
With the additional rainfall during the period, the 14-day streamflow averages at many of the gauges of the four main watersheds held within normal thresholds. However, the streamflow gauges at the Waccamaw River near Longs and the Little Pee Dee River at Galivants Ferry continued to record values below 10% of their average streamflow. All the state’s rivers observed heights below the flood stage.
