The period started with patchy, light rain due to a low-level disturbance near the coast on Monday, October 10. The northerly winds helped keep a weak wedge in place over the region, and morning temperatures ranged from the upper 40s in the Upstate to the lower 60s near the coast. Sunshine helped temperatures climb into the low to mid-70s by late afternoon. Partly cloudy skies on Tuesday gave way to increasing cloud cover throughout the day, and temperatures slightly moderated with highs in the upper 70s. The Charleston Harbor Tidal Gauge recorded high astronomical tides of 7.42 feet on Monday morning and 7.33 feet MLLW starting on Tuesday morning, causing shallow to moderate flooding in low-lying coastal areas.
A cold front approached the Southeast on Wednesday, which had moved through the region by early Friday morning, bringing widespread rainfall across the state. High temperatures climbed into the lower 80s ahead of the front, helping trigger some strong thunderstorms in portions of the Lowcountry and Midlands. Most of the rain fell from Wednesday evening through early Thursday morning, with totals ranging from half an inch to localized amounts close to four inches. Dense, patchy fog developed on Thursday morning across much of the Midlands and Pee Dee regions, with visibilities less than half a mile in some locations. Behind the front, high pressure moved into the area on Friday, providing much drier air and plenty of sunshine for much of the weekend. Temperatures warmed back into the mid-70s to lower 80s across the state on Saturday. Breezy conditions developed on Sunday as the high pressure started to shift offshore ahead of an approaching, dry cold front, ushering in a cold airmass for the start of the workweek.
(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 | 0.19 | 26.92 | -10.0 |
| Greer Airport | 0.17 | 41.35 | 1.7 |
| Charlotte, NC Airport | 0.11 | 33.52 | -1.8 |
| Columbia Metro Airport | 0.82 | 34.21 | -3.3 |
| Orangeburg 2 (COOP) | 0.94 | 44.87s | 2.6s |
| Augusta, GA Airport | 1.82 | 41.14 | 4.7 |
| Florence Airport | 0.08 | 33.24 | -4.6 |
| North Myrtle Beach Airport | 0.57 | 41.60 | 1.2 | Charleston Air Force Base | 0.68 | 45.32 | 0.4 |
| Savannah, GA Airport | 0.93 | 33.20 | -7.9 |
| *Weekly precipitation totals ending midnight Sunday. M - denotes total with missing values. s - denotes total with suspect data. |
4-inch depth soil temperature: Clinton: 60 degrees. Columbia: 69 degrees. Barnwell: 64 degrees. Mullins: 63 degrees.
Most of the precipitation reported during the period fell due to the cold front’s passage on Wednesday and Thursday. Widespread reports of half an inch of rain were measured across the Lowcountry, southern Midlands, and coastal Pee Dee regions. Areas north of the Interstate 85 corridor and those in the northern Midlands recorded less than a quarter of an inch of rain. Some higher amounts of rain fell across the state, with CoCoRaHS observers in McCormick and Saluda counties observing between three and five inches of rain. Areas around Berkeley, Charleston, and Dorchester counties also picked up over two inches of rain. Due to the dry weather during the previous period, moderate drought (D1) conditions were reintroduced into the state on the United States Drought Monitor, and abnormally dry (D0) conditions lingered in the Upstate and along the Savannah River.
Even with rain falling across most of the state, the 14-day averages for streamflow gauges continued to report below-normal flows in the headwaters of the Santee and Savannah rivers. Gauges along the Saluda and Broad recorded flows much below average, especially in those located near the Fall Line. Some of the gauges in the Pee Dee watershed that previously reported low values returned to normal. Elsewhere, most of the ACE basin and the Pee Dee watershed gauges measured average streamflow values. The river heights on all the state’s rivers were observed below the flood stage.
