SOUTH CAROLINA WEATHER AND CLIMATE

March 25 - 31, 2002


WEATHER SUMMARY

Mild mornings and warm afternoons near 80 degrees were observed on both Monday and Tuesday. A frontal boundary crossed the state on Tuesday evening with scattered light showers. Somewhat cooler conditions followed and by Friday morning a few upstate sites recorded temperatures at or below freezing. The warmth returned over the weekend as did scattered thundershowers on Saturday evening and strong storms throughout the day on Sunday. There were numerous reports of hail and high winds along with heavy rains. The town of Batesburg-Leesville reported golf ball sized hailstones on Sunday afternoon. For the period the state average temperature was six degrees above normal.

PRECIPITATION AND TEMPERATURE DATA

The highest temperature was 89 degrees at Jamestown on March 25 and at Ridgeville on March 30. The lowest temperature was 29 degrees at Salem on the morning of March 28. The greatest 24-hour rainfall reported was 1.78"at Keowee Dam ending at 7:a.m. on March 30. The average statewide rainfall for the period was 0.8".


                     Precipitation
               Period    2002   Deviation*         Temperature
Location        Total   Total    From Avg.       Maximum   Minimum	
Greer            1.55   11.36        2.6B           77        35                       	              	
Columbia         0.97    7.91        5.2B           82        43
Florence         2.30    7.65        3.2B           85        42	        
Charleston       1.28    9.09        2.1B           84        48
N Myrtle Beach   0.65    6.00        5.1B           75        47
Augusta, Ga.     0.67    8.68        4.5B           84        44
A=Above, B=Below                                                                       

                            
 

Note: Weekly rainfall amounts are for the 24-hour period ending midnight Sunday.

SOIL

4 inch depth average soil temperature: Columbia 64 degrees.

RIVERS AND SURF

South Carolina river stages were below normal and rising.
Surf temperatures at Myrtle Beach and Savannah will average around 62 degrees.


sco@water.dnr.state.sc.us
http://water.dnr.state.sc.us/climate/sco/weekly/wk040102.html