Mild, sunny weather was observed on Monday with Pickens, Little Mountain and Hartsville reporting a high temperature of 75 degrees. Afternoon high temperatures on Tuesday reached 82 degrees at Walhalla, Florence and Conway. Scattered, light showers began moving over the state around midnight. Wednesday morning rainfall amounts of 0.33 inches were measured at Beaufort, 0.30 inches at Chesnee and 0.25 inches at Walterboro. At 3:00 p.m., the Anderson AP reported west winds of 26 mph, gusting to 37 mph. An elevated anemometer at Williams-Brice Stadium in Columbia recorded winds gusting to 61 mph. Dry, colder air arrived in force for Thursday. Sub-freezing temperatures moved as far south as Saluda and Newberry with 31 degrees. The Rock Hill AP minimum temperature on Thursday morning of 30 degrees was a 45-degree fall from their Wednesday high temperature of 75 degrees. The Thursday 5:00 p.m. relative humidity value observed at the Greenville Downtown AP was an arid 10 percent. Light frost coated exposed surfaces on Friday morning for much of inland South Carolina. Cheraw and Lugoff reported a hard freeze of 24 degrees. A Saturday afternoon of sunshine and light winds provided enough warming for Union, Shaw AFB, Barnwell and Conway to reach 75 degrees. Soaking rains fell though most of the daylight hours on Sunday. The state average temperature for the seven-day period was three degrees above the long-term average.
The highest official temperature reported was 84 degrees at Charleston AP and Columbia Metro AP on March 11. The lowest official temperature reported was 21 degrees at Ninety Nine Islands on March 14. The heaviest official 24-hour rainfall reported was 1.28 inches at the USC campus in Columbia and the Columbia Hamilton-Owens AP on March 16. The state average rainfall for the seven-day period was 1.0 inches.
PRECIPITATION:
Precipitation
Weekly Jan 1 Departure
Anderson AP 1.33 8.85 -1.2
Greer AP 1.28 9.52 -0.7
Charlotte, NC AP 1.20 10.40 1.5
Columbia Metro AP 1.16 9.48 0.3
Orangeburg AP 0.93 8.33 -1.4
Augusta, GA Bush AP 1.43 8.19 -1.9
Florence AP 0.55 8.09 0.2
N Myrtle Beach AP 0.46 6.10 -3.0
Charleston AP 1.07 7.50 -1.1
Savannah, GA AP 0.45 5.79 -2.6
Weekly rainfall totals ending midnight Sunday.
SOIL:
4-inch depth soil temperature: Columbia 56 degrees, Charleston 58 degrees.
RIVERS AND SURF:
South Carolina river stages were near normal. Charleston Harbor reported a water temperature of 55 degrees.
