The King Tide event that started on Friday, November 13, lasted through the middle of the week. Low-lying areas in Beaufort and Charleston reported shallow saltwater flooding. The tidal gauge at the Charleston Harbor reported a maximum of 7.64 feet mean lower low water (MLLW) on Monday, 7.11 feet on Tuesday, and 7.15 feet on Wednesday morning.
River height gauges across parts of the Midlands and Pee Dee reported moderate river flooding continued across the state, due the heavy rains from Tropical Storm Eta during the pervious week. A cooler and drier weather pattern settled into the area on Monday. Temperatures were more seasonable with lows in the 40s and highs in the upper 60s to lower 70s. A dry, reinforcing cold front moved through the region on Tuesday and temperatures dropped into the upper 20s by Wednesday morning. Despite sunny skies, the maximum temperatures on Wednesday afternoon struggled to reach 60 degrees in some locations.
On Thursday, November 19, overnight lows once again dropped to freezing before they rose into the low to mid-60s. The cooler temperatures gave away as high pressure built over the region, which led to a slight warming trend in the temperatures through the remainder of the period. By Friday, daytime temperatures moderated back into the 70s after starting in the mid to upper 30s. The surface high pressure started to weaken on Saturday and continued throughout the weekend. This easterly and southerly system provided some limited moisture on Sunday, and a few locations in the Lowcountry and Midlands recorded measurable rainfall, mainly less than 0.10 inches.
(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 | 55.48 | 16.6 |
| Greer Airport | 0.00 | 68.10 | 26.1 |
| Charlotte, NC Airport | 0.00 | 54.55 | 17.1 |
| Columbia Metro Airport | 0.03 | 50.64 | 10.1 |
| Orangeburg Airport | 0.02 | 40.96 | -1.6 |
| Augusta, GA Airport | Trace | 52.22 | 12.9 |
| Florence Airport | Trace | 58.34 | 19.2 |
| North Myrtle Beach Airport | 0.00 | 51.34 | 3.6 |
| Charleston Air Force Base | 0.00 | 51.71 | 4.4 |
| Savannah, GA Airport | 0.00 | 47.76 | 3.4 |
| *Weekly precipitation totals ending midnight Sunday. M - denotes total with missing values. |
4-inch depth soil temperature: Clinton: 55 degrees. Columbia: 61 degrees. Barnwell: 57 degrees. Mullins: Not available.
After a few weeks of rainfall, the pattern flipped to drier conditions. Rainfall totals over the period were less than 0.25 inches, with much of the state reporting no rain. The year-to-date rainfall totals across the state continued to be above-normal values, mainly due to the wet start to 2020, and rain during the previous weeks helped alleviate some of the drier parts of the state, especially areas in the Lowcountry.
With the widespread, heavy rain from Tropical Storm Eta falling over the Carolinas during the previous period, streamflow gauges in the Upper Broad and Yadkin-Pee Dee river basins measured values well above normal. River height gauges showed many of the rivers in the basins at minor or moderate flood stages. Gauges in the upper portions of the basins crested at the beginning of the period. By the weekend some of the gauges toward the lower end of the basins continued to rise as the water moved through the systems to empty into the Atlantic.
