The beginning of the week started with a weak cold front meandering around the Piedmont and Upstate. Despite the front, low temperatures on the morning of Monday, May 20, started in the mid-60’s to lower 70’s, which was ten to fifteen degrees above normal minimum temperatures for this time of year. The National Weather Service (NWS) station located at the Columbia Metropolitan Airport measured a low temperature of 72 degrees, which tied for the record high minimum temperature set back in 2017 and 2018. Daytime temperatures reached the mid-80’s in the Upstate and mid-90’s in the Pee Dee. By Tuesday morning, the weak cold front had moved into the Piedmont, stalling along the North and South Carolina border, and stations reported minimum temperatures in the upper 60’s to low 70’s. Under mostly clear skies, the maximum temperatures rose into the upper 80’s to mid-90’s, nearly ten degrees above normal.
As the weekend approached, the weak cold front drifted south across the state as an area of low-pressure pushed north toward the Mid-Atlantic on Wednesday. Morning temperatures ranged from the upper 60’s in the Upstate to the lower 70’s in parts of the Central Savannah River Area (CSRA). With the front positioned across the Midlands, some locations in the Pee Dee and Piedmont enjoyed highs in the low 80’s while other places reported highs in the mid-90’s. The position of the cold front sparked some isolated showers, and trace amounts of rain were reported at the NWS stations in Anderson, Greenwood and Orangeburg. Record high minimum temperatures were observed in much of the Upstate on the morning of Thursday, May 23, including mountain locations such as Long Creek (68 degrees) and Walhalla (69 degrees). Spotty shower activity in Greenwood and York counties did not amount to much rainfall, as maximum temperatures climbed into the upper 80’s to mid-90’s across the state.
Heading into the weekend, a strong upper level and surface ridge set-up over the region. The strengthening of the ridge kept shower and thunderstorm activity suppressed and caused above normal and record temperatures during the last weekend of May. On Friday, May 24, the first day of the heat wave, morning temperatures started in the upper 60’s to lower 70’s and soared into the mid- to upper 90’s by midafternoon. Many locations ranked in the top five warmest for May 24 (for both low and high temperatures) on record. The NWS station at the Greenville-Spartanburg Airport tied the record high for the day (94 degrees), and the stations at the Charleston International Airport and Columbia Metropolitan Airport tied the second warmest maximum temperatures on record at each station, 96 and 97 degrees respectively. Along the coast, strong rip currents were reported along the beaches, and two swimmers got caught in a suspected rip current. One of the swimmers made it safely to shore, the other was recovered near the Folly Beach Pier, and his condition is unknown at the time of this report. On the second day of the heat wave, low temperatures across the state were up to ten degrees above normal, with observed values in the upper 60’s to low 70’s reported Saturday morning. The high temperatures for the day reached the upper 90’s, with many NWS stations recording values that tied the daily records for May 25, including Charleston (97 degrees), Columbia (100 degrees) and Greenville (96 degrees). Temperatures up to fifteen degrees above normal continued across the Palmetto State on Sunday, as 100-degree temperatures were measured in Charleston (a new daily record), Columbia and Florence. The prolonged period of unseasonably hot weather and lack of rain created an increase in fire danger indices across portions of the state and a wildfire in Francis Marion National Forest was reported by U.S. Forest Service Officials.
The heat wave continued through the remainder of the holiday weekend and into the work week, with temperatures forecast to be hotter on Memorial Day.
(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 | Trace | 18.84 | 1.7 |
| Greer Airport | 0.00 | 21.04 | 2.2 |
| Charlotte, NC Airport | Trace | 21.48 | 5.1 |
| Columbia Metro Airport | 0.00 | 11.71 | -4.3 |
| Orangeburg Airport | Trace | 11.17 | -5.7 |
| Augusta, GA Airport | 0.00 | 14.48 | -2.5 |
| Florence Airport | 0.00 | 12.74 | -2.0 |
| North Myrtle Beach Airport | 0.00 | 11.30 | -5.4 |
| Charleston Air Force Base | 0.54 | 7.46 | -8.3 |
| Savannah, GA Airport | 0.00 | 10.44 | -5.2 |
| *Weekly precipitation totals ending midnight Sunday. M - denotes total with missing values. |
4-inch depth soil temperature: Clinton: 78 degrees. Columbia: 82 degrees. Barnwell: 73 degrees. Mullins: 73 degrees.
Stations around the state reported another week of mainly dry conditions, with the limited rainfall confined to areas that received isolated showers due to the weak cold front that pushed through the state on Tuesday and Wednesday. The most rainfall reported during the week was just over an inch in Lexington County, while most of the reporting stations recorded less than half an inch over the seven days. Over the last thirty days, most stations have only measured three inches or less, though a few stations have picked up closer to five inches, still well below normal for May. This extended period of dry weather has caused river and streamflow values across the Lowcountry, Midlands and Pee Dee region to continue to drop. Many rivers and streams, including portions of the Coosawatchie, Edisto, Savannah and Waccamaw, reported flows below normal for this time of year. The year-to-date rainfall totals in the Upstate remained well above normal for this time of year, with more than 20 inches reported at 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 six inches below normal. The Lowcountry and Pee Dee continue to be the driest parts of the state, with less than ten inches of rain in areas from the Interstate 95 corridor to the coast. These totals are six to eight inches below normal for this time of year in these regions, and rainfall totals for portions of the counties are running close to ten inches below normal.
Charleston Harbor (CHTS1): 81.5 degrees.
Capers Nearshore Buoy (Station 41029): 81.7 degrees.
Fripps Nearshore Buoy (Station 41033): 81.0 degrees.
