On Monday, July 29, a weather pattern developed across the region, promoting multiple rounds of scattered showers and thunderstorms throughout most of the period. There was a slight risk of severe weather, mainly in the form of damaging winds. Southerly flow around a high-pressure center offshore provided ample moisture over the region, causing periods of heavy rains. Tuesday's storms caused wind damage in parts of the Upstate and Midlands, with quarter-sized hail reported near Jackson in Aiken County. During the early morning hours on Wednesday, July 31, an RC Winds station at Dutch Fork High School in Richland County recorded 2.20 inches of rain in an hour, and the Rocky Branch USGS gauge crested at 7.82 ft with the camera showing significant flooding on Whaley St. before falling below flood stage at 1:56 am.
By midweek, temperatures started to warm, and high temperatures in the mid- to upper 90s combined with humid conditions on Thursday. The National Weather Service Offices across the state issued heat advisories as heat index values approached 110 degrees in some portions of the state. The National Weather Service station at the Columbia Metropolitan Airport reported a maximum temperature of 97 degrees, with a maximum heat index of 111 degrees, while the high temperature at the Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport was 96 degrees, with a maximum heat index of 103 degrees.
The warmer-than-normal temperatures continued on Friday for much of the state, although the heat index was slightly lower than Thursday's. Thunderstorms on Saturday afternoon led to flash flooding in northeast Richland County, resulting in multiple road washouts and a water rescue. Heavy rain in the evening rendered several roads impassable in Spartanburg and Boiling Springs. Over four inches of rain fell in just over an hour near Greer.
On Friday, August 2, the National Hurricane Center issued advisories on a tropical depression south of Cuba. Late on August 3, the tropical depression strengthened into a tropical storm, becoming Tropical Storm Debby. The storm tracked northward through the eastern Gulf of Mexico, parallel to the Florida Peninsula, producing heavy rain in portions of southwest Florida over the weekend before making landfall along the Florida Big Bend on Monday, August 5.
(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 | 0.37 | 33.26 | 5.2 |
| Greer Airport | 0.53 | 32.57 | 2.6 |
| Charlotte, NC Airport | 0.88 | 29.23 | 3.1 |
| Columbia Metro Airport | 1.17 | 33.56 | 5.8 |
| Orangeburg 2 (COOP) | 2.85 | 27.76 | -3.3 |
| Augusta, GA Airport | 1.70 | 30.56 | 3.2 |
| Florence Airport | 2.48 | 27.78 | 0.7 |
| North Myrtle Beach Airport | 0.12 | 25.78 | 0.1 | Charleston Air Force Base | 0.12 | 31.52 | 1.4 |
| Savannah, GA Airport | 0.25 | 31.00 | 1.3 |
| *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: 81 degrees. Barnwell: 77 degrees. Mullins: 70 degrees.
Most of the state recorded at least half an inch of rain during the period; however, slow-moving and training storms caused widespread totals between two and five inches in portions of the Midlands and Pee Dee regions along the Interstate 20 corridor. A CoCoRaHS observer in Richland County reported 8.86 inches of rain during the seven days, while another in Florence County reported 8.25 inches of rain from one event. Despite the rainfall, lingering drought conditions due to lack of soil moisture and below-normal streamflow kept drought designations on the United States Drought Monitor (USDM) unchanged on the July 24 map. Any changes in the USDM drought designations because of the rainfall that fell in the latter half of the week will be reflected in the map released on Thursday, August 1.
Rainfall increased the 14-day average streamflow values at gauges across the state, especially in some of the watersheds across the Midlands and Pee Dee, including the Lynches River at Effingham, Black Creek at Hartsville, and the Pee Dee River at Bennettsville. However, rainfall totals across the Coastal Plain were between half an inch and two inches. With the persistent drought conditions, the 14-day average streamflow values at some gauges across the region remained below average, such as the Edisto River near Givhans and the Black River at Kingstree. The Little Pee Dee River at Galivants Ferry reported values well below average for this time of year. River heights rose at gauges where heavy rainfall fell or began working through the watersheds. Tide height gauges across the state reached the action stage during the week.
