On Monday, September 12, a weak cold front approached the Southeast, bringing some scattered showers across the state, the only chance of widespread rain during the entire period. Highs were slightly above normal ahead of the front, with temperatures in the upper 80s to low 90s. The cold front cleared the coast by Tuesday morning and lingered just off the South Carolina coast as a stationary front through the weekend. Behind the front, a drier and slightly cooler air mass moved into the region. Overnight temperatures were five to ten degrees cooler than usual. The National Weather Service (NWS) station at the Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport recorded a minimum temperature Tuesday morning of 54 degrees. Maximum temperatures across the Midlands and Upstate were in the low to mid-80s and in the upper 80s in the Lowcountry and Pee Dee.
The high pressure settled over the Appalachians on Wednesday, providing dry weather. The slightly cooler morning temperatures for the middle of September continued through the rest of the period. The NWS station near Jocassee recorded a low of 44 degrees, while the rest of the state reported low temperatures in the low to mid-50s. Under plenty of sunshine, the high temperatures across the state reached the low to mid-80s through Friday.
While minimum temperatures continued to be below average, high temperatures started to moderate to typical values heading into the weekend. Funnel clouds were reported near Folly Beach on Sunday morning. A weak low pressure off the northeast Florida coast and the old frontal boundary provided some moisture in parts of the southern Lowcountry, triggering some showers in the afternoon.
(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 | 0.00 | 26.37 | -7.3 |
| Greer Airport | 0.00 | 39.93 | 3.8 |
| Charlotte, NC Airport | 0.30 | 30.73 | -1.3 |
| Columbia Metro Airport | 0.07 | 31.26 | -2.8 |
| Orangeburg 2 (COOP) | 0.04s | 41.55s | 3.4s |
| Augusta, GA Airport | 0.01 | 39.22 | 5.7 |
| Florence Airport | 0.00 | 29.11 | -4.9 |
| North Myrtle Beach Airport | 0.08 | 37.47 | 2.0 | Charleston Air Force Base | 0.01 | 38.97 | -0.9 |
| Savannah, GA Airport | Trace | 31.97 | -5.2 |
| *Weekly precipitation totals ending midnight Sunday. M - denotes total with missing values. s - denotes total with suspect data. |
4-inch depth soil temperature: Clinton: 73 degrees. Columbia: 77 degrees. Barnwell: 70 degrees. Mullins: 70 degrees.
Most of the state recorded less than a tenth of an inch of rain during the period, with much of the reported precipitation coming from 24-hour totals from Sunday, September 11, through the morning of Monday, September 12. Some scattered showers produced up to an inch of rain in isolated portions of the Midlands and Pee Dee. Some CoCoRaHS observers in Georgetown and Horry counties measured over two inches of rain.
Despite little to no rain falling across the state, streamflow gauges in the headwaters of the Santee and Savannah watersheds reported 14-day averages that were much above average, especially over portions of Greenville, Oconee, and Pickens counties. The Little Pee Dee River at Galivants Ferry and the Saluda River near Columbia recorded average streamflow values of below average. Elsewhere, gauges in the ACE and Pee Dee watersheds measured average streamflow values. All the state’s rivers observed heights below the flood stage.
