SOUTH CAROLINA WEATHER AND CLIMATE

August 5 - 11 2002

WEATHER SUMMARY

Tropical low pressure, located southeast of Charleston, fanned a few light showers over coastal sites on Monday. Inland counties reported sunny, hot weather. High temperatures on Tuesday were recorded near to over 100 degrees just before a sharp, early season cold front dropped into the state. Central sections received scattered thunderstorms along with isolated reports of high winds and hail. Much cooler weather followed into the start of the weekend with early morning lows falling into the 50's by Friday morning. All day sun helped the heat return over the weekend and by Sunday the mercury was back in the mid 90's. For the period, the state average temperature was two degrees below normal.

PRECIPITATION AND TEMPERATURE DATA

The highest temperature reported was 104 at Johnston on August 6. The lowest temperature reported was 50 degrees at Johnston on the morning of August 9. The heaviest 24-hour rainfall reported was 1.17" at Eutawville ending at 7:00 a.m. on August 7. The average statewide rainfall for the period was 0.1"

                       Precipitation
               Period     2002     Deviation*        Temperature
Location        Total    Total      From Avg.     Maximum   Minimum	
Greer            0.00    20.87         11.3B         97       61                       	              	
Columbia         0.00    22.90          8.9B         99       58
Florence         0.00    18.84          9.9B         95       56	        
Charleston       1.03    26.51          5.5B         96       62
N Myrtle Beach   0.06    17.38          9.5B         91       60
Augusta, Ga.     0.11    21.33          7.7B        101       58 
A=Above, B=Below                                                                                                      

Note: Weekly rainfall amounts are for the 24-hour period ending midnight Sunday.

SOIL

4 inch depth average soil temperature: Columbia 87 degrees.

RIVERS AND SURF

South Carolina river stages are well below normal.
Surf temperatures at Myrtle Beach and Savannah will average around 84 degrees.