Temperatures were slightly cooler than average starting Monday, December 19, with lows in the upper 20s to low 30s and highs in the low 50s. Clouds increased on Monday and Tuesday, with light rain falling Tuesday afternoon. Showers and thunderstorms developed ahead of the intense cold front, producing most of the rain observed on Wednesday and Thursday, and lightning caused a house fire in Florence on Thursday afternoon. The Charleston Harbor Tidal Gauge recorded high astronomical tides ranging between 7.48 feet and 8.31 feet MLLW starting on Wednesday and Thursday. The higher tides caused shallow to moderate flooding in low-lying coastal areas and closed roads in the Charleston area due to saltwater flooding.
The main weather story for the period was the surge of Arctic air into the region, which would impact the state through the holiday weekend. As the front pushed through the area early Friday morning, December 23, wind gusts up to 55 mph were reported across the state. The high winds knocked down trees and powerlines, and by mid-Friday morning, more than 75,000 customers were without power. Behind the front, the temperatures plummeted, and many locations recorded their maximum temperature for the day before noon. The National Weather Service (NWS) offices that serve the state issued wind chill advisories for Friday night through Saturday morning.
Unfortunately, more than 50,000 people were without power on Saturday morning as the low temperatures bottomed out in the single digits and teens. The NWS station at the Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport recorded a new daily low temperature of 7 degrees, breaking the previous value of 8 degrees in 1983. The station at the Columbia Metropolitan Airport tied its daily minimum temperature of 12 degrees, set in 1983. Wind chill values on Christmas Eve morning dropped below zero in portions of the Midlands and Upstate, and single-digit values were observed even at the coast. The bitterly cold temperatures continued through the day, with many locations reporting new daily low maximum temperatures as temperatures struggled to climb out of the 20s. The winds relaxed throughout the day but still produced wind chill values in the single digits and teens. Temperatures on Christmas morning ranged from –3 degrees at Caesars Head to 22 degrees at the NWS Charleston International Airport, making it one of the coldest Christmases on record. Daytime temperatures reached the mid-30s to low 40s, but due to the extended period of sub-freezing temperatures, there were reports of burst pipes across the state.
(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 | 0.10 | 37.31 | -8.2 |
| Greer Airport | 0.28 | 54.45 | 5.7 |
| Charlotte, NC Airport | 1.85 | 44.00 | 1.1 |
| Columbia Metro Airport | 1.04 | 40.73 | -3.7 |
| Orangeburg 2 (COOP) | 1.30M | 49.70M | 0.0M |
| Augusta, GA Airport | 1.24 | 47.94 | 4.7 |
| Florence Airport | 1.26 | 39.24 | -5.3 |
| North Myrtle Beach Airport | 1.61 | 46.24 | -1.7 | Charleston Air Force Base | 1.07 | 49.98 | -1.9 |
| Savannah, GA Airport | 1.44 | 36.86 | -10.7 |
| *Weekly precipitation totals ending midnight Sunday. M - denotes total with missing values. s - denotes total with suspect data. |
4-inch depth soil temperature: Clinton: 33 degrees. Columbia: 44 degrees. Barnwell: 35 degrees. Mullins: 26 degrees.
Widespread rain fell south of the Fall Line during the period, with most of the state measuring over half an inch of rain. Much of the Lowcountry and Midlands recorded over an inch, while locations near the Interstate 85 corridor recorded less than half an inch of rain. A few CoCoRaHS observers recorded totals between two and three inches, especially near Clover, Florence, Murrells Inlet, and Santee. The widespread rainfall over the Upstate during the past few periods has led to improvements in drought designations on the US Drought Monitor. Unfortunately, drought (D1) and abnormally dry (D0) conditions persisted in the Pee Dee region, and despite the rain, D0 conditions expanded into the Lowcountry.
The 14-day averages for stream flows at many gauges in the state continued to show some improvements due to recent rainfall. A few gauges measured flows well above average, including those on the Saluda River near Columbia and the Pacolet River near Fingerville. The precipitation that fell during the period in the Pee Dee helped increase streamflow values in the region. However, the gauge on the Little Pee Dee River near Galivants Ferry still recorded flows well below average. The river heights on the Congaree River near Columbia and the Santee River at Jamestown reached minor flood stages during the period. Elsewhere, however, the river heights on all the state’s rivers were observed below the flood stage.
