The period started on Monday, August 21, with the weather pattern dominated by an unusual, intense, large ridge in the central Plains. Maximum and minimum temperatures were five to ten degrees above normal, with heat index values between 105 and 110 degrees across the Lowcountry, Midlands, and Pee Dee regions. The National Weather Service (NWS) station at the Columbia Metropolitan Airport recorded a high of 98 degrees on Monday, with a heat index of 107 degrees. Conditions were similar on Tuesday.
A weak backdoor cold front pushed through the state overnight and was in central Georgia by early Wednesday morning. The front provided some relief from the oppressive heat by dropping temperatures closer to normal, with highs in the upper 80s to low 90s. The hazy skies cleared out as drier air moved in from the northeast. Temperatures on Thursday morning were cool, with lows in the low to mid-60s, but rose to the low 90s by mid-afternoon under mostly sunny skies. A weak boundary triggered some evening showers and thunderstorms in the Upstate, and thunderstorm wind damage was reported near Mountain Rest in Oconee County and Easley in Pickens County.
The heat and humidity returned on Friday and persisted through the weekend. High temperatures were up to ten degrees above normal in the Upstate, with a high temperature of 96 degrees recorded at the NWS station at the Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport. Above-normal temperatures continued Saturday, and the NWS station at the Columbia Metropolitan Airport set a new daily record high temperature of 101 degrees, breaking the previous record of 100 degrees set in 1943. Heat indices ranged from 100 to 110 degrees across the state on Friday and Saturday. A weak cold front moved through the state on Saturday, triggering severe thunderstorms across the Midlands. Pea-sized hail was reported in Blythewood in Richland County, and storm reports of wind damage were received from Calhoun, Lexington, Orangeburg, Richland, Saluda, and Sumter counties. The front stalled in the region, providing more unsettled weather on Sunday. Thunderstorms produced frequent lightning and heavy rain in the Midlands and Pee Dee, with scattered strong storms developing elsewhere in the state.
Also, over the weekend, a disturbance near the Yucatan Peninsula became more organized and became Tropical Storm Idalia, which was forecast to impact the Gulf Coast and potentially the state during the upcoming period.
(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 | Trace | 36.87 | 5.9 |
| Greer Airport | 0.07 | 42.11 | 8.7 |
| Charlotte, NC Airport | 1.14 | 32.72 | 3.4 |
| Columbia Metro Airport | 1.63 | 39.25 | 8.0 |
| Orangeburg 2 (COOP) | 1.53 | 42.27 | 7.3 |
| Augusta, GA Airport | 2.43 | 43.94 | 13.0 |
| Florence Airport | 1.88 | 33.50 | 2.8 |
| North Myrtle Beach Airport | Trace | 25.32 | -5.1 | Charleston Air Force Base | 0.03 | 32.58 | -2.7 |
| Savannah, GA Airport | 0.37 | 31.74 | -2.0 |
| *Weekly precipitation totals ending midnight Sunday. M - denotes total with missing values. s - denotes total with suspect data. |
4-inch depth soil temperature: Clinton: 85 degrees. Columbia: 86 degrees. Barnwell: 79 degrees. Mullins: 72 degrees.
Widespread rainfall totals of half an inch up to an inch were measured in the Midlands and parts of the Pee Dee region, with some areas recording more than two inches due to thunderstorm activity. However, much of the Lowcountry and Upstate missed out on beneficial rain, and some locations did not report any precipitation over the seven days, while others only recorded a tenth of an inch of rain. On the August 22 release of the US Drought Monitor (USDM), abnormally dry conditions (D0) expanded across much of the Midlands and Pee Dee regions, and moderate drought conditions (D1) were introduced in Lexington, Newberry, and Saluda counties in the Midlands and also in Chester, Chesterfield, Fairfield, Lancaster, and York counties.
Due to the general lack of precipitation across the region, most streamflow gauges reported decreasing flows and those that continued to report average flows were on the lower end of the normal range. Gauges in the Pee Dee River Basin that had reported below-average flows over the last few periods dropped to much below-average values, including those along Black Creek and the Wateree River. Additional gauges in the northern Midlands and Pee Dee regions saw flows drop to below-normal values. Only the gauges in areas that received the isolated heavy rainfall recorded above-average values. The river height values remained below action and minor flood stages, and tidal gauges reported normal tides.
