A weak trough along the coast helped provide the moisture to produce foggy conditions in portions of the Midlands on Monday, September 28. Visibility at the National Weather Service (NWS) station at the Columbia Metropolitan Airport dropped to less than one mile and remained low until mid-morning. The trough's added moisture and position caused storms to form, and heavy rain in Charleston closed roads in parts of the downtown. A cold front approached the region on Tuesday, aiding in the further development of showers and thunderstorms across the Lowcountry and Pee Dee. Multiple downed, snapped, and uprooted trees were reported from Beaufort County, especially near the Forest Beach area. A nearby personal weather station recorded a wind gust of 55 mph. The NOAA Fripp Nearshore Buoy measured a 47-mph wind gust, and a WeatherFlow station on the Folly Beach Pier reported a 67 mph wind gust, and 53 mph at Shutes Folly. On Wednesday, the trough of low pressure and the front slowly began to move away from the area.
By the morning of Thursday, October 1, sunny skies were across the area, ahead of another reinforcing shot of dry, cold air that pushed through the region overnight. Ahead of the front, a thin layer of smoke from the western wildfires drifted over the state. Once the front cleared the coast, a high pressure set up in the Mississippi River Valley and resided over the eastern half of the United States, dominating the weather through the rest of the period. Dry conditions prevailed and skies remained relatively cloud-free. Many locations reported that both minimum and maximum temperatures were five to ten degrees below normal. Low temperatures ranged from the upper 40s to the upper 50s across the state, and daytime temperatures rose into the 70s. On Friday, the NWS stations in McClellanville and Myrtle Beach reported a high of 76 degrees, while in the Upstate, stations in Greenwood and Anderson recorded a high of 71 degrees. By Sunday, most stations across the state reported highs around 70 degrees, with a few locations struggling to get out of the upper 60s. These pleasant conditions continued into the first part of the new work week.
(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 | 0.14 | 50.31 | 16.5 |
| Greer Airport | 0.22 | 59.14 | 22.7 |
| Charlotte, NC Airport | 0.29 | 42.59 | 10.3 |
| Columbia Metro Airport | 0.42 | 48.42 | 12.5 |
| Orangeburg Airport | 0.00 | 35.16 | -2.5 |
| Augusta, GA Airport | 0.17 | 50.01 | 15.4 |
| Florence Airport | 1.33 | 53.50 | 18.9 |
| North Myrtle Beach Airport | 0.57 | 43.96 | 1.7 |
| Charleston Air Force Base | 1.58 | 46.96 | 4.6 |
| Savannah, GA Airport | 1.03 | 44.37 | 4.8 |
| *Weekly precipitation totals ending midnight Sunday. M - denotes total with missing values. |
4-inch depth soil temperature: Clinton: 65 degrees. Columbia: 71 degrees. Barnwell: 63 degrees. Mullins: 54 degrees.
The main precipitation event during the period occurred during the first part of the workweek. Limited rainfall fell during the start of the period, while rainfall from Thursday to Saturday was widespread. Most of the state reported at least half of an inch of rainfall. Radar estimates show that portions of southern Orangeburg County and most of Clarendon County received between three and five inches of rain, supported by CoCoRaHS observations in the area. However, locations between the Interstate 85 and Interstate 20 corridor measured less than a quarter of an inch. Most of the year-to-date rainfall totals across the state continued to be above-normal through the end of September, with the recent rains bringing totals in areas that were drier closer to normal.
With most of the rain falling southeast of the Fall Line, the Upstate's streamflow values continued to drop, with some of the gauges returning to above normal to normal flows for this time of year. Most of the gauges in the Pee Dee continued to report above normal flow. Some of the river levels in the Pee Dee were at minor to moderate flood stage and steadily dropped through the period. As the water flushed through the ends of the basins, gauges in the Lowcountry increased slightly, and with the added rain, both streamflow values and river stage heights will continue to be elevated as the rainfall moves through the river basins.
