The period started with widespread showers and thunderstorms through the middle of the week as a weak cold front pushed through the Mid-Atlantic region and the Carolinas. Temperatures at the beginning of the week were near normal, with lows in the low to mid-70s and highs in the low to mid-90s. The National Weather Service (NWS) station at the Greenville International Airport recorded visibilities less than half a mile on Tuesday morning due to dense fog. Slow-moving thunderstorms produced heavy rain on Tuesday afternoon in parts of Beaufort County, where CoCoRaHS observers recorded between two to four inches of rain.
On Wednesday, the frontal boundary was still over the region, helping to develop additional showers and thunderstorms. Heavy rain in Walterboro flooded roads and caused a washout of US Highway 17 just south of the city limits; a car fell into the washout, but no one was injured. Nearby, a personal weather station in Givhans recorded six inches of rain in three hours. Severe thunderstorms knocked down trees and powerlines in Chesterfield, Kershaw, and Lancaster counties. The Cheraw Municipal Airport recorded a wind gust of 68 mph.
By Thursday, hot and humid conditions started to build over the region due to high pressure that controlled the weather pattern through the remainder of the period. There was some dense, patchy fog in parts of the northern Midlands and Pee Dee region that dropped visibilities to less than a mile. Overnight and daytime temperatures were between five and ten degrees above normal, with highs in the mid- to upper 90s and lows in the mid- to upper 70s. Heading into the weekend, the heat combined with the humidity to create oppressive heat indices across the Palmetto State. Heat indices on Friday and Saturday in the Lowcountry were over 115 degrees; in parts of the Midlands and Pee Dee they were over 110 degrees; and they reached the upper 90s in the Upstate. On Sunday, the Charleston NWS Office reported a heat index of 106 degrees at 3 AM at Waterfront Park in downtown Charleston, with a temperature of 87 degrees and a dew point of 82 degrees.
(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 | 0.47 | 25.90 | -1.8 |
| Greer Airport | 3.99 | 34.06 | 4.6 |
| Charlotte, NC Airport | 2.51 | 25.62 | 0.0 |
| Columbia Metro Airport | 0.01 | 28.38 | 1.1 |
| Orangeburg Airport | 0.14 | 25.51M | -1.0M |
| Augusta, GA Airport | 1.13 | 35.06 | 8.1 |
| Florence Airport | 1.99 | 28.85 | 2.3 |
| North Myrtle Beach Airport | 1.13 | 32.01 | 6.9 |
| Charleston Air Force Base | 2.47 | 31.90 | 2.5 |
| Savannah, GA Airport | 1.18 | 29.18M | 0.0M |
| *Weekly precipitation totals ending midnight Sunday. M - denotes total with missing values. |
4-inch depth soil temperature: Clinton: 83 degrees. Columbia: 83 degrees. Barnwell: 78 degrees. Mullins: 77 degrees.
Unlike the previous periods, rainfall was not as widespread, and the majority of the state recorded rainfall totals of less than half an inch. The sea breeze helped produce rain for much of the coastal and immediate inland areas of the Lowcountry and Pee Dee. In Georgetown and Horry counties, CoCoRaHS observers measured between three and five inches of rain. An observer near Green Pond in Colleton County reported 5.96 inches of rain during the period, most of that coming from a single event. Elsewhere across the state, locations that received higher rainfall totals were the result of isolated thunderstorms. CoCoRaHS observers recorded between two and three inches in the Duncan and Greer area in the Upstate and also near Darlington and Florence.
With the highly localized rainfall across the state during this period, many gauges on small tributaries reported streamflow values much above normal, including Stevens Creek near Modoc, the South Rabon Creek near Gray Court, and the Salkehatchie River near Miley. Gauges along the Black, Broad, Edisto, and Wacammaw rivers also saw increases in streamflow. None of the rivers in the state recorded heights at or below the flood stage during the period.
