With high pressure in place over the region, it was a dry and warm start to the period on Monday, August 30. Temperatures were near normal, with highs in the upper 80s to low 90s across much of the state. However, there were slightly above normal high temperatures in the Upstate. The National Weather Service (NWS) station at the Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport recorded a high of 93 degrees, about five degrees above normal.
The remnants of Hurricane Ida started to move into the area on Tuesday, increasing rain chances and producing some severe thunderstorms. Reports of tree damage caused by strong winds came in from Cherokee, Edgefield, Greenwood, Laurens, McCormick, and Spartanburg counties. There was a structure that was damaged near Lake Greenwood and downed powerlines along Interstate 85 near Lyman. Ida’s remnants combined with a cold front on Wednesday, causing additional scattered thunderstorms across the state. While daytime temperatures were near normal, many stations reported warmer overnight temperatures, including 78 degrees at the Florence Regional Airport, setting a new daily record high minimum temperature, breaking the previous record of 76 degrees from 2012.
By Thursday, September 2, the cold front and Ida’s remnants had moved through the state, bringing unseasonably dry weather to the Carolinas. Temperatures were below normal, with little chance of rain, through the rest of the week and into the weekend. On Thursday, low temperatures were in the mid to upper 60s, with highs in the upper 80s.
Friday and Saturday mornings provided the first glimpse of Fall in the Palmetto State, as overnight temperatures dropped into the upper 50s and low 60s, between five and fifteen degrees below normal. The NWS station near Jocassee recorded a low temperature of 50 degrees on Friday morning, and the NWS station at the Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport observed a minimum of 57 degrees. The NWS station at the Charleston International Airport reported a low temperature of 61 degrees and a high of 84 degrees on Saturday. Maximum temperatures on Friday and Saturday only reached the low to mid-80s across the state. On Sunday, moisture started to return to the region, ahead of a weak front, so overnight lows were not as cool as the previous two mornings in some locations but were still slightly below normal, with daytime temperatures closer to normal.
(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 | 0.40 | 30.45 | -1.6 |
| Greer Airport | 1.33 | 37.85 | 3.3 |
| Charlotte, NC Airport | 2.08 | 30.40 | -0.1 |
| Columbia Metro Airport | 0.10 | 37.95 | 5.6 |
| Orangeburg Airport | 0.31 | 31.45M | 0.2M |
| Augusta, GA Airport | 0.01 | 40.86 | 8.9 |
| Florence Airport | Trace | 35.24 | 3.2 |
| North Myrtle Beach Airport | 0.04 | 37.83 | 5.4 |
| Charleston Air Force Base | 0.06 | 42.78 | 5.6 |
| Savannah, GA Airport | 0.13 | 32.86M | -2.4M |
| *Weekly precipitation totals ending midnight Sunday. M - denotes total with missing values. |
4-inch depth soil temperature: Clinton: 77 degrees. Columbia: 77 degrees. Barnwell: 72 degrees. Mullins: 70 degrees.
Only locations north of the Fall Line were fortunate enough to record any substantial rainfall during the period; most of that rainfall came from one event during Tuesday and Wednesday. CoCoRaHS observers in Oconee and Pickens counties recorded 24-hour totals ending Wednesday morning between two and three inches. Due to the isolated nature of the storms on Wednesday and Thursday, there were a few reports of over half an inch in interior portions of the Lowcountry and near the Charlotte Metropolitan area. No rain was reported over the holiday weekend.
With another week of limited rainfall across the state, many rivers with recorded streamflow values above normal started to fall. However, some of the gauges along the Edisto River, especially near Cope and Orangeburg, continued to report above normal streamflow values due to localized heavy rainfall in the area. Most of the rivers in the state recorded heights below the flood stage during the period.
