The week started with the residual moisture from the remnants of Hurricane Sally producing low clouds and rainfall across the state. Portions of the northern Midlands around the Charlotte area recorded up to two inches of rainfall by Monday morning. While the daytime temperatures were close to five degrees above normal, morning lows were fifteen to twenty degrees above normal. The National Weather Service (NWS) station at the Charleston International Airport measured a morning temperature of 72 degrees, which was fourteen degrees above normal. With the moisture and warmer overnight temperatures, dense fog occurred, with many NWS stations reporting less than a quarter of a mile visibility on Monday and Tuesday mornings.
A weak cold front approached the western part of the state, producing widely scattered showers with limited rainfall. Behind the front, a high pressure built into the region on Wednesday providing dry conditions and mild temperatures through Thursday. Fog and low clouds were scattered across portions of the state, especially along the coast and offshore. On Friday, the high pressure shifted offshore and a stronger cold front moved through, ushering in much cooler and drier air for the weekend. Isolated showers only produced between a quarter and a half an inch of rain across the state. Under clear skies, both maximum and minimum temperatures on Saturday and Sunday were between five to ten degrees cooler than normal.
An extended King Tide event started on Wednesday and lasted through the rest of the period. The high astronomical tides caused sunny day saltwater flooding in Beaufort, Charleston, Myrtle Beach, and other locations along the coast. The tidal gauge at the Charleston Harbor reported a maximum of 7.74 feet mean lower low water (MLLW) on Wednesday. The crests on Thursday and Friday were slightly lower. The highest crests occurred over the weekend, when the gauge recorded a tidal value of 7.77 feet on Saturday and 8.19 feet on Sunday. The value on Sunday was a higher value than the event at the end of September and is the fourteenth highest crest/tidal value on record at the station.
(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 | 0.01 | 51.29 | 16.0 |
| Greer Airport | Trace | 61.40 | 23.4 |
| Charlotte, NC Airport | 0.07 | 46.95 | 13.0 |
| Columbia Metro Airport | 0.31 | 49.17 | 11.8 |
| Orangeburg Airport | 0.35 | 35.51 | -3.9 |
| Augusta, GA Airport | 0.00 | 51.09 | 14.9 |
| Florence Airport | 0.19 | 54.30 | 18.2 |
| North Myrtle Beach Airport | 0.21 | 45.72 | 1.8 |
| Charleston Air Force Base | Trace | 48.69 | 4.5 |
| Savannah, GA Airport | 0.00 | 44.42 | 3.0 |
| *Weekly precipitation totals ending midnight Sunday. M - denotes total with missing values. |
4-inch depth soil temperature: Clinton: 63 degrees. Columbia: 69 degrees. Barnwell: 63 degrees. Mullins: 54 degrees.
The main precipitation event occurred at the beginning of the period, as the remnants of Hurricane Delta and associated tropical moisture moved into the region. Throughout the remainder of the period, rainfall was limited, with a frontal passage on Friday morning, triggering some additional showers in parts of the state. In total, most of the state reported at least half of an inch of rainfall, though radar estimates show up to four inches of rain fell near the Charlotte Metropolitan area, and closer to five inches fell in portions of Chester County. Most of the year-to-date rainfall totals across the state continued to be above-normal, with the recent rains bringing totals in portions of the Central Savannah River Area and southern Midlands that were drier closer to normal.
With most of the rain falling in the Piedmont and parts of northern Midlands during the beginning of the period, streamflow values rose above normal, with some of the gauges in the higher elevations near the state line reporting well above normal streamflow. Similarly, areas of the Pee Dee that received the heaviest rains saw an increase in their streamflow values. The drier conditions throughout the remainder of the week allowed the streamflow values and stage heights to drop slowly.
