Dry conditions moved back into the area for the beginning of the work week as a cold front pushed off the coast during the early morning on Monday, May 6. High pressure set up over the region and remained in control of the weather pattern through the middle of the week. Morning temperatures on May 6 started in the upper 50’s to mid-60’s and warmed into the low to mid 80’s over the day. The high temperature at the National Weather Service (NWS) station in Greenville hit 81 degrees, and the Beaufort MCAS station reported a maximum temperature of 86 degrees. Conditions on Tuesday were like Monday, with minimum and maximum temperatures five to ten degrees above normal and limited rain reported across the Palmetto State. The Charleston Harbor tidal gauge observed an astronomical high tide value of 7.17 ft. mean lower low water (MLLW) on Monday night and 7.20 ft. MLLW on Tuesday night, which caused some shallow coastal flooding along the lower South Carolina coast.
Wednesday, May 8, started with reports of dense fog in portions of the Midlands and Pee Dee as many of the NWS airport station locations measured visibilities of less than half a mile. The observed minimum temperatures across the area were in the mid-to-upper 60’s, up to ten degrees above normal. The center of the high pressure began to shift off the East Coast, allowing for onshore flow to bring moisture back into the region. The increased moisture, with high temperatures in the low to mid 80’s, spawned scattered showers mainly along the area affected by the sea breeze as it moved across Charleston County. As the center of the high pressure continued to move further into the Atlantic, the southerly flow at the surface maintained high moisture levels through the remainder of the work week. The moisture combined with the warm overnight temperatures in the mid-to-upper 60s in the Piedmont and Upstate, resulting in fog that developed in some of the low-lying areas. The increased cloud cover throughout the day kept afternoon temperatures in the upper 70’s to lower 80’s across the state, and scattered showers dropped up to an inch of rain in portions of the Midlands. The trend of warmer than normal minimum temperatures continued into Friday, May 10, as many NWS stations in the Upstate observed low temperatures within the top five warmest on record for the day. The NWS station at Clarks Hill set a record high minimum temperature of 68 degrees, breaking the previous record of 67 degrees established back in 1979. High temperatures across the state reached the low-to-mid-80’s as scattered showers developed ahead of the approaching cold front.
For the second weekend in a row, the most active weather during the period occurred on Saturday and Sunday, as a low-pressure system and associated cold front pushed through the state. Morning temperatures were in the mid-to-upper 60’s, which was fifteen degrees above normal for this time of year. The NWS station at the Greenville-Spartanburg Airport observed a minimum temperature of 66 degrees, which was the fourth warmest low temperature on record for May 11. Daytime temperatures reached the upper 70’s to low 80’s across much of the state; however, the NWS station at the Florence Regional Airport hit 89 degrees. The unstable atmosphere helped with the development of rain and thunderstorms across the Pee Dee and Piedmont. A few of those thunderstorms were severe and caused damage in Lancaster and York counties. Wind knocked down over three dozen trees, and quarter-sized hail was reported in the Fort Mill area. There were reports of penny-sized hail in Lancaster and heavy rain produced flash flooding, which prompted the evacuation of a flooded apartment complex. CoCoRaHS observers in the vicinity reported rainfall totals between three and five inches from the event. A U.S. Forest Service station reported a wind gust of 59 mph in Barnwell as isolated strong storms moved across the Midlands. Other storms in the area produced wind gusts up to 50 mph in Lexington, Orangeburg, Richland and Sumter counties. As the cold front continued to move through the state on Sunday, May 12, low temperatures were still ten degrees above normal in the Piedmont and Upstate, as temperatures were reported in the mid-to-upper 60’s. Cloud cover kept daytime temperatures at some of the stations in the Midlands and Upstate in the mid-70’s, while stations between the Interstate 20 corridor to the coast hit the mid-80’s. Later in the afternoon, strong storms formed in this area and minor reports of storm damage came out of the Lowcountry. Behind the front, cooler and drier air began to move into the region for the beginning of the new work week.
(Note: The highest and lowest official temperatures and highest precipitation totals provided below are based on observations from the National Weather Service Cooperative Observer network and the National Weather Service's Forecast Offices.)| Weekly* | Since Jan 1 | Departure | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anderson Airport | 1.22 | 18.79 | 2.3 |
| Greer Airport | 0.43 | 21.04 | 3.9 |
| Charlotte, NC Airport | 1.55 | 21.48 | 6.5 |
| Columbia Metro Airport | 0.56 | 11.71 | -2.9 |
| Orangeburg Airport | 0.93 | 11.17 | -4.2 |
| Augusta, GA Airport | 1.23 | 14.48 | -1.3 |
| Florence Airport | 0.50 | 12.74 | -0.4 |
| North Myrtle Beach Airport | 0.94 | 11.30 | -3.9 |
| Charleston Air Force Base | 0.82 | 6.91 | -7.5 |
| Savannah, GA Airport | 0.11 | 10.37 | -3.9 |
| *Weekly precipitation totals ending midnight Sunday. M - denotes total with missing values. |
4-inch depth soil temperature: Clinton: 69 degrees. Columbia: 73 degrees. Barnwell: 67 degrees. Mullins: 70 degrees.
Conditions were mainly dry during the seven days, with isolated afternoon thunderstorms producing heavy rainfall in some locations with widespread rainfall falling as a result of a cold front on May 11 and 12. Many locations along the coast reported rainfall totals less than a half an inch, while a few isolated places in the Piedmont received over two inches of rain, with a portion of Lancaster County reporting over four inches. Despite the scattered rain across the state, the flood stages at many rivers and streams continued to fall throughout most of the week, until the rain event over the weekend. Some of the gauges in the Pee Dee and Midlands rose to action stage but remained below minor flood stage. The year-to-date rainfall totals in the Upstate remained well above normal for this time of year, with more than 20 inches reported many locations and over 30 inches in some of the more mountainous areas. Ten to twenty inches of rain have fallen since the beginning of the year in the Midlands, but the Central Savannah River Area is close to four inches below normal. With the weekend rainfall, some streamflow values rose to above normal levels along many rivers and streams in the Midlands, Piedmont and Upstate. Streamflow gauges that were reporting below normal flows last week recorded near normal flows by the end of the reporting period. Less than ten inches of rain have been measured in areas from the Interstate 95 corridor to the coast. These totals are four to six inches below normal for this time of year in the Lowcountry and Pee Dee, and rainfall totals for portions of coastal Charleston and Georgetown counties are running close to ten inches below normal.
Charleston Harbor (CHTS1): 77.9 degrees.
Capers Nearshore Buoy (Station 41029): 75.2 degrees.
Fripps Nearshore Buoy (Station 41033): 77.4 degrees.
