Starting Monday, December 2, the period featured dry and cold conditions as a strong cold front moved through the region Monday night, bringing much drier and cooler air across the Southeast. Maximum and minimum temperatures on Monday and Tuesday were up to fifteen degrees below normal, with overnight temperatures in the low 20s and highs struggling to get out of the 40s, including locations near the coast.
By Wednesday, the mass shifted southeast, resulting in a slight temperature moderation in the afternoon. While temperatures were between five to ten degrees below normal, daytime highs reached the low to mid-50s. A cold front pushed through the area overnight Wednesday and into Thursday, ushering another round of Arctic air and breezy conditions through most of the day on Thursday. The front triggered a few isolated light-passing showers before high pressure settled into the eastern US on Friday, and temperatures were below normal through the weekend. The wind chill values on Friday morning dropped to 20 degrees at multiple locations in the Lowcountry. The National Weather Service (NWS) stations in North Myrtle Beach and at the Florence Regional Airport reported new daily record low maximum temperatures of 43 degrees, breaking the previous records set in 2010.
Saturday, December 7, was one of the coldest days since January due to Canadian high pressure over the region. Low temperatures dropped into the teens at many locations across the state, including portions of the Midlands, Pee Dee, and Upstate. The NWS station near Jocassee in Oconee County measured a low of 16 degrees, and the station at Andrews in Williamsburg County recorded a low of 19 degrees. Temperatures were slightly warmer on Sunday before high clouds moved into the region. Some light rain fell across the state late Sunday night and 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 | Trace | 48.62 | 5.6 |
| Greer Airport | Trace | 50.44 | 4.2 |
| Charlotte, NC Airport | Trace | 48.01 | 7.1 |
| Columbia Metro Airport | 0.00 | 49.25 | 6.9 |
| Orangeburg 2 (COOP) | 0.00 | 50.89 | 3.4 |
| Augusta, GA Airport | Trace | 46.60 | 5.6 |
| Florence Airport | 0.00 | 44.96 | 2.4 |
| North Myrtle Beach Airport | 0.00 | 44.84 | -1.3 | Charleston Air Force Base | 0.00 | 50.26 | 0.3 |
| Savannah, GA Airport | 0.00 | 54.56 | 8.9 |
| *Weekly precipitation totals ending midnight Sunday. M - denotes total with missing values. s - denotes total with suspect data. |
4-inch depth soil temperature: Clinton: Not Available. Columbia: 52 degrees. Barnwell: 45 degrees. Mullins: 47 degrees.
Most of the state had no rainfall during the period, with some locations reporting less than a tenth of an inch or a trace of rainfall from the cold front that passed through the region late Wednesday and into Thursday. The U.S. Drought Monitor map released on Thursday, December 5, reflected the continued drier-than-normal conditions with moderate drought (D1) conditions expanded into parts of Dillon, Florence, and Marlboro counties in the Pee Dee, and Anderson, Greenville, Pickens, and Spartanburg counties in the Upstate. The D1 conditions were also introduced into Chester, Chesterfield, and York counties.
The 14-day average streamflow values at most gauges across the ACE Basin and Lower Savannah River watershed were above average. However, due to the dry conditions, streamflow in the Upstate and across the headwaters of the Pee Dee, Santee, and Savannah basins had dropped to below-normal values, with some gauges reporting much below-normal and low values. Statewide, the river and tidal height levels were below the action stage during the period.
