With high pressure over the region, the maximum temperatures at the beginning of the period were five degrees above normal, with the daytime highs reaching the upper 80's to mid-90's, while overnight lows ranged from the low to upper 60's. A few locations reported new record minimum temperatures on Monday, July 29, including the National Weather Service (NWS) station in Andrews, which recorded a low of 62 degrees, breaking the previous record of 66 degrees set in 1984. The drier air helped keep conditions rain-free through Tuesday, though a few isolated showers developed across the Upstate. A few of the pop-up thunderstorms produced strong winds that caused damage near Travelers Rest and Berea in Greenville County. Tuesday, July 30, also marked the second new moon of the month, known as a Black Moon, and contributed to higher than normal astronomical tides through the remainder of the reporting period. The Charleston Harbor tidal gauge observed recorded a maximum tide value of 7.45 ft. mean lower low water (MLLW) on Tuesday evening and moderate flooding was observed in flood-prone coastal areas.
By Wednesday, a trough of low pressure set up over the Midlands, helping to increase the amount of moisture over the region. Combined with daytime temperatures in the upper 80's to low 90's, shower and thunderstorm activity was a little more widespread across the state. Thunderstorms produced pea-sized hail at the SC Emergency Management Department office in Pine Ridge (Lexington County) and caused wind damage near Easley and Salem in the Upstate. As the high pressure shifted offshore and a weak frontal boundary stalled in eastern Tennessee on Thursday, the return of southerly flow meant additional moisture would move into the state. Strong thunderstorms developed in portions of the Midlands and Upstate. Multiple trees were downed near Pomaria in Newberry County, and storm spotters reported hail in Orangeburg County (pea-sized hail) and Dentsville in Richland County (nickel-sized hail). Storms in the Upstate produced quarter-sized hail in Gaffney and damage to several business and trees was reported in Easley. The storms in the Upstate also caused locally heavy rainfall, and many CoCoRaHS observers in the area reported 24-hour totals ending Friday morning of between two and four inches. The Charleston Harbor tidal gauge reported a maximum tide of 7.88 ft. MLLW on Wednesday and 7.85 ft. MLLW on Thursday evening, causing the closure of many downtown streets, including Market Street. There were also reports of water flowing underneath slightly elevated homes near Maybank Highway, and the on-ramps to Highway 17 in low-lying areas were blocked off because of standing water. This trend continued through the weekend, as the Charleston Harbor tidal gauge continued to report high astronomical tides, between 7.5 – 7.9 ft. MLLW during the evening hours.
Heading into the weekend, the daytime temperatures topped out in the mid-to-upper 80's across much of the state on Friday, August 2. The maximum temperatures for the day were between five and ten degrees below normal, including the NWS station located at the Charleston International Airport which observed a high of 81 degrees. Scattered showers across the Palmetto State produced heavy rainfall in parts of the coastal Lowcountry and southern Midlands. Upstate and CoCoRaHS observers in these areas reported between two and three inches of rain from the storms. The trend of humid and warm weather continued into Saturday, with scattered thunderstorms producing locally heavy rainfall in portions of coastal Horry County. By Sunday, August 4, temperatures returned to normal, and the coverage of showers and thunderstorms increased during the day. The slow-moving thunderstorms produced torrential rainfall and localized flooding, especially in Edgefield and Greenwood counties, where radar estimates showed isolated amounts up to five inches.
(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 | 0.35 | 24.81 | -1.4 |
| Greer Airport | 4.09 | 33.40 | 4.8 |
| Charlotte, NC Airport | 2.14 | 33.09 | 8.1 |
| Columbia Metro Airport | 0.72 | 24.35 | -3.1 |
| Orangeburg Airport | 0.10 | 16.93 | -11.8 |
| Augusta, GA Airport | 3.28 | 25.55 | -1.6 |
| Florence Airport | 2.65 | 25.07 | -0.9 |
| North Myrtle Beach Airport | 0.35 | 23.30 | -5.5 |
| Charleston Air Force Base | 2.12 | 26.53 | -2.8 |
| Savannah, GA Airport | 0.75 | 27.16 | -1.5 |
| *Weekly precipitation totals ending midnight Sunday. M - denotes total with missing values. |
4-inch depth soil temperature: Clinton: 68 degrees. Columbia: 81 degrees. Barnwell: 76 degrees. Mullins: 77 degrees.
Rainfall totals over the seven days varied greatly across the Palmetto State, with portions of Edgefield, Greenwood, and Greenville counties receiving up to five inches of rain, while other localized areas picked up to two inches in the Pee Dee. Although rainfall totals in the Upstate over the last 30 days are below normal, the year-to-date rainfall totals in the Upstate remained near to above normal for this time of year, with more than twenty-five inches reported at many locations and over fifty inches in some of the more mountainous areas. River levels in those areas that received heavy rain on Sunday afternoon in the Upper Savannah and Santee River Basins rose slightly, while those parts of the state that received sparse rainfall observed low river levels. Similarly, streamflow values in areas that received the heaviest rainfall totals increased and remained slightly above normal. Many locations in the Central Savannah River Area (CSRA) and Midlands continued to miss out on the rain and received less than half an inch. River and stream levels remained below critical flood thresholds through the period. Streamflow values across much of the Lowcountry and southern Midlands were below normal through Sunday. Portions of the Central Savannah River Area are close to ten inches below normal since January 1, even though twenty to thirty inches of rain have fallen since the beginning of the year in the Midlands. Allendale and Hampton counties in the Lowcountry and Dillon, Florence, Horry and Marion counties in Pee Dee continue to be the driest areas of the state. Less than twenty-five inches of rain has fallen for the year in areas from the Interstate 95 corridor to the coast, with isolated totals of over twenty-five inches in portions of Beaufort, Charleston and Colleton counties.
Charleston Harbor (CHTS1): 84.2 degrees.
Capers Nearshore Buoy (Station 41029): 83.7 degrees.
Fripps Nearshore Buoy (Station 41033): 85.1 degrees.
