During the early morning hours of Monday, October 25, a low-pressure developed off the coast and slowly moved away from the state, but not before causing heavy rain in portions of Beaufort County before sunrise. Both low and high temperatures were ten to fifteen degrees above normal, ahead of an approaching cold front. The National Weather Service (NWS) station at the Florence Regional Airport tied the daily record high temperature of 84 degrees, set in 2012. Behind the cold front, cool, dry air filtered into the area, and temperatures returned to more seasonable values at the end of October.
Additional cool air settled into the region by Wednesday morning, and low temperatures ranged from the upper 30s in the Upstate to the upper 40s near the coast. Cloud cover began to increase throughout the day as moisture returned across the region ahead of an intense low-pressure system and associated cold front. Under partly cloudy skies, highs rose into the upper 60s, and a few locations reported daytime temperatures in the low 70s. Scattered showers gave way to more widespread rainfall on Thursday as the front pushed through the state. While the overall severe weather threat was low, thunderstorms produced moderate to heavy rain at times, which was a welcomed sight after weeks of dry weather. The front passage caused gusty winds along the coast, and the WeatherFlow site at the south end of Folly Beach reported a maximum gust of 48 mph.
Conditions slowly improved on Friday as the low-pressure moved off toward the northeast. However, the increased cloud cover provided scattered showers and kept high temperatures between five and ten degrees below normal, with some locations in the Upstate barely reaching 60 degrees. Behind the front, breezy conditions were reported across parts of the state, with sustained winds between 15 and 20 mph. The rather dreary pattern broke Sunday, when a high pressure started to build into the region, providing dry weather and temperatures closer to normal for Halloween and the start of the new 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 | 0.68 | 42.46 | 4.2 |
| Greer Airport | 1.04 | 44.92 | 3.7 |
| Charlotte, NC Airport | 0.41 | 32.55 | -4.2 |
| Columbia Metro Airport | 0.58 | 43.50 | 4.7 |
| Orangeburg Airport | Trace | 36.38M | -1.4M |
| Augusta, GA Airport | 0.65 | 48.89 | 11.3 |
| Florence Airport | 0.65 | 38.45 | -0.8 |
| North Myrtle Beach Airport | 0.57 | 41.08 | -1.0 |
| Charleston Air Force Base | 0.87 | 54.14 | 7.6 |
| Savannah, GA Airport | 1.47 | 44.96M | 2.4M |
| *Weekly precipitation totals ending midnight Sunday. M - denotes total with missing values. |
4-inch depth soil temperature: Clinton: 59 degrees. Columbia: 64 degrees. Barnwell: 59 degrees. Mullins: 54 degrees.
Observers in Beaufort County recorded 24-hour rainfall totals up to four inches ending Monday morning. More widespread rain fell across the state associated with the cold front's passage on Thursday, with lingering showers on Friday. Totals for the period ranged between 0.50 and 1.50 inches across the Midlands, Pee Dee, and Upstate, with higher amounts in the coastal Lowcountry. Most locations south of the Fall Line reported a drier than average October, with some sites reporting less than 50 percent of their normal rainfall during the month. Despite the rain during the period, the overall deficits continue to contribute to and worsen the abnormally dry conditions near the Piedmont area and the Pee Dee region.
Even with the rain during the period, the weeks of limited rainfall in the Midlands and Pee Dee caused some gauges to report below normal flows, especially along the streams and tributaries of the Great Pee Dee and Wateree rivers. Gauges across the ACE Basin and in the upper Broad and Santee watersheds continued to record normal streamflow values for this time of year. All of the rivers in the state recorded heights below the flood stage during the period.
