On Monday, December 23, a strong high pressure slid into the area, bringing continued chilly conditions to start the week. Both daytime highs and overnight lows on Monday and Tuesday were up to fifteen degrees below normal, with morning lows in the 20s and 30s and highs in the upper 40s to mid-50s. A weak coastal low developed early Tuesday, producing light rain across parts of the Coastal Plain and Pee Dee regions.
By Wednesday, the below-normal temperatures started to moderate slowly to more seasonal values, and high pressure kept conditions mainly dry throughout the work week. Temperatures on Christmas morning were slightly below normal, with lows in the upper 20s to mid-30s, but high temperatures reached the mid-to-upper-50s. Cloud cover spread across the area on Thursday as moisture moved into the region from the southwest, and a weak boundary caused light rain along the coast.
Cold air damming conditions set up across the state on Friday, December 27, with light rain and cool temperatures for portions of the Upstate and Midlands, where high temperatures did not get out of the 40s. However, temperatures at locations near the coast reached the upper 50s to lower 60s. The warming trend continued into the weekend, and rain chances increased ahead of a strong frontal boundary that moved through the region early Sunday, producing severe weather. Three tornadoes were confirmed in the Midlands, an EF1 south of Winnsboro and two EF0 tornadoes in Lexington and Newberry counties. Minor wind damage was reported in portions of Midlands and Upstate, with the NWS site at the Greenwood County Airport recording a gust of 53 mph and pea-sized hail reported in Kershaw County.
(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 | 1.31 | 53.02 | 7.0 |
| Greer Airport | 1.26 | 55.62 | 6.3 |
| Charlotte, NC Airport | 0.57 | 50.38 | 7.6 |
| Columbia Metro Airport | 0.60 | 51.18 | 6.2 |
| Orangeburg 2 (COOP) | 1.16 | 52.87 | 2.7 |
| Augusta, GA Airport | 0.91 | 47.61 | 5.7 |
| Florence Airport | 1.65 | 47.67 | 2.6 |
| North Myrtle Beach Airport | 0.89 | 46.27 | -2.0 | Charleston Air Force Base | 2.06 | 52.70 | 0.4 |
| Savannah, GA Airport | 1.61 | 56.58 | 8.7 |
| *Weekly precipitation totals ending midnight Sunday. M - denotes total with missing values. s - denotes total with suspect data. |
4-inch depth soil temperature: Clinton: Not Available. Columbia: 52 degrees. Barnwell: 49 degrees. Mullins: 48 degrees.
Most of the state recorded at least half an inch during the period, with some isolated pockets of higher rainfall totals in portions of the Lowcountry and Upstate, where locations measured up to two inches of rain. A few isolated locations in Beaufort County recorded over three inches of rain. The U.S. Drought Monitor map released on Thursday, December 26, showed slight improvements in the Central Savannah River Area's abnormally dry (D0) conditions. Elsewhere, drought conditions remained the same across the state.
Even with the precipitation, some of the 14-day average streamflow values had dropped to below-normal values due to dry conditions during the previous period. Many gauges, especially in the Midlands, reported within normal ranges, with the gauge on the Santee River near Jamestown recording flows above normal. The values at gauges in the Pee Dee River basin dropped below normal due to the continued lack of rainfall during past periods. The river height levels along the river and the tidal gauges remained below the flood stage during the period.
