On Monday, July 31, a front stalled south of the area with enough moisture and instability to cause scattered showers and thunderstorms to develop across the state through Tuesday afternoon. Severe thunderstorms in the Lowcountry produced wind damage in Colleton and Dorchester counties. Elsewhere, a spotter reported golf-ball-sized hail near Norway in Orangeburg County, and lightning caused a structural fire in Myrtle Beach. On Tuesday evening, some drier air funneled into the Southeast, leading to maximum temperatures between five and ten degrees cooler than average, with highs in the low to mid-80s.
The Charleston Harbor Tidal Gauge recorded astronomical highs tides ranging from 7.52 feet and 7.93 feet MLLW on Monday and Tuesday, peaking at 8.11 ft MLLW on Wednesday. The higher tides caused moderate to major flooding in low-lying coastal areas and closed roads in the Charleston area due to saltwater flooding.
Widespread cloud cover and rain on Thursday kept temperatures cooler than normal for the beginning of August, up to fifteen degrees below normal at some locations, as highs only reached the upper 70s to low 80s. Despite the lack of instability, energy from a shortwave that moved through Tennessee triggered severe thunderstorms in the Upstate. The National Weather Service Greenville-Spartanburg Office confirmed two EF0 tornadoes briefly touched down Thursday afternoon, one near Six Mile and another near Pickens. Scattered storms continued Friday, and temperatures remained slightly cooler than average.
The weekend brought a return to more summer-like conditions, with temperatures in the mid-90s on Saturday. Moisture gradually increased on Sunday ahead of an approaching cold front and provided an increased threat of severe thunderstorms. There were multiple reports of storm damage in Gaffney, with power poles snapped and damage to a home, and lightning started a structural fire in Richland County.
(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 | 2.93 | 35.70 | 7.4 |
| Greer Airport | 1.50 | 40.8 | 10.5 |
| Charlotte, NC Airport | 1.07 | 30.21 | 3.8 |
| Columbia Metro Airport | 1.31 | 37.10 | 9.0 |
| Orangeburg 2 (COOP) | 1.41M | 38.00M | 6.6M |
| Augusta, GA Airport | 1.19 | 41.09 | 13.4 |
| Florence Airport | 1.68 | 30.48 | 3.1 |
| North Myrtle Beach Airport | 1.82 | 23.67 | 2.4 | Charleston Air Force Base | 0.65 | 31.12 | 0.6 |
| Savannah, GA Airport | 1.25 | 28.99 | -1.1 |
| *Weekly precipitation totals ending midnight Sunday. M - denotes total with missing values. s - denotes total with suspect data. |
4-inch depth soil temperature: Clinton: 79 degrees. Columbia: 82 degrees. Barnwell: 75 degrees. Mullins: 73 degrees.
At least half an inch of rain was recorded across most of hte state during the period, with locally higher amounts. Widespread totals of two and three inches of rain fell in the Upper Savannah River basin and mountains, with isolated totals of over five inches. Other pockets of rainfall over two inches were measured in Charleston, Colleton, Dillon, Dorchester, Horry, and Orangeburg counties. On the August 1 release of the US Drought Monitor, abnormally dry conditions (D0) were introduced into Laurens and Newberry counties and were expanded across portions of Anderson, Oconee, and Pickens counties in the Upstate and Chester, Chesterfield, Lancaster, and York counties in the northern Midlands.
Most gauges reported streamflow values within the normal range, while gauges near areas with higher amounts of rain rose to above-normal values. Some additional gauges in the Pee Dee River Basin recorded values below normal, including those along Black Creek, the Lynches River, and the Wateree River. The gauges in areas that received heavy rainfall, mainly those across the Coastal Plain, recorded above-average values. The river height values remained below action and minor flood stages; however, tidal gauges reported above-normal tides during the first half of the period.
