WEEKLY SOUTH CAROLINA WEATHER 2011

May 2, 2011 - May 8, 2011

WEATHER SUMMARY:

On Monday morning, Cedar Creek cooled to 50 degrees before starting a fast warm up to 83 degrees. Most of the state reported sunny weather and high temperatures in the 80's through Tuesday afternoon. Storms, along a cold front that included hail, developed over night and into Wednesday morning. Chester measured 1.02 inches of rain. Daytime high temperatures on Wednesday fell back into the 60's. At 1:00 p.m., the Beaufort Marine Corps Air Station recorded a relative humidity value of just 25 percent. On Thursday morning, there were public reports of "rooftop frost" across parts of the Upstate. Sandy Springs reached 35 degrees just before sunrise. An area of showers formed Friday morning over the southern half of South Carolina and moved northeast. At 10:17 a.m., the Orangeburg AP reported heavy rain. Both the Columbia Hamilton-Owens AP and the Georgetown AP received 0.60 inches of rain. Dry air, on the other side of the rain, resulted in a 24-hour open pan evaporation water loss of 0.31 inches at the Sandhill Experiment Station. Dense fog developed over the immediate coast on Saturday morning. At 1:02 a.m., port traffic in the Charleston Harbor was temporarily halted due to visibilities of one-tenth of a mile. Mostly sunny, warmer weather was observed over the weekend. The thermometers at Lake Wateree, Bamberg and Givhans reached 89 degrees on Sunday afternoon. The state average temperature for the seven-day period was near normal.

The highest official temperature reported was 90 degrees at Barnwell on May 8. The lowest official temperature reported was 33 degrees at Walhalla and Chesnee on May 5. The heaviest official 24-hour rainfall reported was 1.80 inches at Winnsboro ending at 7:00 a.m. on May 4. The state average rainfall for the period was 0.5 inches.

PRECIPITATION:

                             Precipitation 
                       Weekly   Jan 1   Departure     
                        Total   Total   from Avg
         Greer           0.79   17.51     -1.1
      Anderson           0.51   14.48     -3.6
      Columbia           1.37   14.04     -2.7
    Orangeburg           0.55   13.63     -3.1
 Charlotte, NC           0.85   13.49     -2.3
   Augusta, GA           0.15   13.95     -2.9
      Florence           0.42   12.69     -2.0
N Myrtle Beach           0.87   10.88     -2.9
    Charleston           0.15    9.93     -4.8
  Savannah, GA           0.14   11.67     -3.0
     
Weekly rainfall totals ending midnight Sunday.  

SOIL:

4-inch depth soil temperature: Columbia 73 degrees, Charleston 75 degrees.

RIVERS AND SURF:

South Carolina river stages were near normal. Ocean water temperatures at Springmaid Pier Myrtle Beach were reported at 71 degrees.