On Monday, November 23, dry and cool weather moved into the region behind a cold front. Morning lows started in the 40s and climbed into the mid to upper 60s by late afternoon. Light winds combined with dewpoints in the upper 30s made an enjoyable day with low relative humidity values. The dry weather pattern continued into Tuesday, as high pressure settled over the region, with slightly below normal high and low temperatures.
By midweek, a cold front started to approach the Southeast, providing southerly flow, which increased rain chances and temperatures across the state. While morning lows were in the 40s, the daytime temperatures ranged from the upper 50s in the Upstate to the low 70s at the coast. Scattered, light rain fell during the day in the Upstate. The rain gradually tapered off on Thursday, and morning lows were reported across the state in the upper 50s to low 60s. The rain and cloud cover resulted in low temperatures of more than fifteen degrees above normal in some locations. With the cold front stalled over the mountains, the state was in the warm sector, and maximum temperatures reached the low to mid-70s, up to ten degrees above normal. The high temperature of 80 degrees on Thursday at the National Weather Service (NWS) station at the Charleston International Airport broke the previous record of 79 degrees set back in 1946.
Heading into the weekend, the cold front help dry out the region as it pushed through the Southeast on Friday; minimum temperatures ranged from the 30s in the Upstate to the 50s closer to the coast. High temperatures across the state climbed into the low to mid-70s. Temperatures moderated on Saturday to more normal conditions for the end of November, with highs in the 60s and lows in the upper 40s to low 50s. On Sunday, November 29, a robust low-pressure system developed, and the associated warm front moved through the region. Highs were in the upper 50s to low 60s, except at the coast, ahead of the front, where temperatures reached the 70s. As the cold front approached during the late evening, rain, heavy at times, started to fall over the state, which lasted into early Monday morning.
(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 | 1.12 | 56.60 | 16.6 |
| Greer Airport | 1.14 | 69.24 | 26.3 |
| Charlotte, NC Airport | 0.59 | 55.14 | 16.9 |
| Columbia Metro Airport | 1.69 | 52.33 | 11.1 |
| Orangeburg Airport | 0.86 | 41.82 | -1.5 |
| Augusta, GA Airport | 0.65 | 52.87 | 12.8 |
| Florence Airport | 0.87 | 59.21 | 19.4 |
| North Myrtle Beach Airport | 0.80 | 52.14 | 3.7 |
| Charleston Air Force Base | 0.16 | 51.87 | 4.0 |
| Savannah, GA Airport | 0.61 | 48.37 | 3.4 |
| *Weekly precipitation totals ending midnight Sunday. M - denotes total with missing values. |
4-inch depth soil temperature: Clinton: 55 degrees. Columbia: 62 degrees. Barnwell: Not available. Mullins: 50 degrees.
Coming off a drier weather period, a strong cold front pushed through the region around Thanksgiving, providing most of the rainfall during the seven-day period. Much of the state measured rainfall totals between half an inch up to two inches. However, some locations east of the Interstate 95 corridor reported less than a third of an inch of rainfall. After a few weeks of rain, the pattern flipped to drier conditions. The year-to-date rainfall totals across the state continue to be above-normal, mainly due to the wet start to 2020. Despite the recent rainfall, portions of the Lowcountry are still experiencing abnormally dry conditions, especially in areas near the Lower Savannah.
With widespread rain falling over the Carolinas, streamflow gauges in the Upper Broad and Yadkin-Pee Dee river basins continued to measure values well above normal. Even though the streamflow values were high, the river heights in the upper portions of these basins remained below flood stage. River height gauges at the end of the basins showed some levels at actionand minor flood state but were slowly dropping.
