The main weather story for the week was the continued warm temperatures and worsening of drought conditions across much of the Palmetto State.
On Monday, October 7, a weak cold front continued to push toward the state, creating isolated and scattered showers. Morning temperatures started in the mid to upper 60s, and rose to the low to mid 80s, close to five degrees above normal for this time of year. Along the coast, showers that developed offshore moved inland during the afternoon, producing up to an inch of rain in portions of Berkeley, Charleston, Georgetown and Horry counties. A CoCoRaHS observer in St. Stephens reported a 24-hour total of 1.87 inches ending Tuesday morning. The cold front pushed through the area by early Tuesday, and scattered showers formed in the Upstate behind the front, but with limited moisture, brought less than a quarter inch of rain.
By the middle of the week, the state returned to dry conditions, but with cooler and more seasonable temperatures on Wednesday. Minimum temperatures ranged from the upper 50s to low 60s, and statewide, maximum temperatures were in the 70s. With high pressure in control of the weather pattern, dry conditions lasted through the rest of the workweek, though temperatures gradually warmed toward the weekend. On Thursday, October 10, some locations in the Midlands and Upstate observed high temperatures between five and ten degrees above normal, while stations in the Lowcountry and Pee Dee recorded near normal temperatures. Along the coast, the high tides caused a tidal level of between 7.10 – 7.30 ft. MLLW at the Charleston Harbor gauge through the weekend, and shallow flooding was reported in low-lying areas of the coast.
Subtropical Storm Melissa formed off the Northeast coast on Friday, October 11, and posed no immediate direct threat to land, but did cause rough seas and waves along the East Coast. The warm and dry conditions continued into Saturday. The National Weather Service (NWS) station in Spartanburg set a new daily record high temperature of 87 degrees, breaking the record of 86 degrees set 2017. Similarly, the NWS station located on the campus of the University of South Carolina in Columbia broke the daily record of 91 degrees set in 2017, with a maximum temperature of 92 degrees. An approaching cold front triggered rain in the Upstate on Saturday evening, and by Sunday morning, more than an inch of rain had been reported by CoCoRaHS observers in northern Oconee County. The cold front moved into the Midlands and stalled over the region, with widespread rainfall across the state. Another frontal system was forecast to bring unsettled weather through the middle of the new workweek.
(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 | 0.32 | 27.26 | -7.6 |
| Greer Airport | 0.53 | 37.08 | -0.4 |
| Charlotte, NC Airport | 1.05 | 40.41 | 7.0 |
| Columbia Metro Airport | 0.14 | 27.76 | -9.1 |
| Orangeburg Airport | 0.62 | 19.17 | -19.7 |
| Augusta, GA Airport | 0.39 | 36.43 | 0.8 |
| Florence Airport | 0.46 | 33.71 | -1.9 |
| North Myrtle Beach Airport | 0.02 | 42.60 | -0.8 |
| Charleston Air Force Base | 0.03 | 36.08 | -7.5 |
| Savannah, GA Airport | 0.00 | 33.71 | -7.1 |
| *Weekly precipitation totals ending midnight Sunday. M - denotes total with missing values. |
4-inch depth soil temperature: Clinton: 68 degrees. Columbia: 75 degrees. Barnwell: 71 degrees. Mullins: 64 degrees.
Most of the rainfall over the seven days fell in the Upstate, mainly through portions of Greenville, Oconee and Pickens counties, where observers reported up to two inches of rain, and with most of those totals coming from the rainfall over the weekend. Rainfall totals in the Upstate over the last 30- to 60-days continue to be below normal, though the rainfall eased some of the recent dry conditions. Outside of the localized portions of the Upstate, less than half an inch of rain was recorded across the remainder of the state. Streamflow values continued to drop in many of the state's streams and rivers, with several reported flows in the southern portion of the state well below normal for this time of year. The USGS river gauges show below normal to much below normal flows on their 14-day flow product along much of the Savannah (despite being regulated) and in portions of the ACE and Santee Basins. At the time of this report, the real-time streamflow values are much below normal across the ACE Basin in the Lowcountry and along the Savannah. Elsewhere in the state, many gauges are reporting below-normal flows, and those that are reporting ‘normal’ flows are in the lower range of the percentile bracket. Portions of Allendale, Barnwell and Hampton counties in the Lowcountry, along with portions of Orangeburg County, continue to be the driest areas of the state, reporting less than twenty-five inches since the beginning of the year. Totals of over forty inches were present along the immediate coast of the southern coastal counties, while interior locations within those counties measured lower amounts.
Charleston Harbor (CHTS1): 77.2 degrees.
Capers Nearshore Buoy (Station 41029): 77.0 degrees.
Fripps Nearshore Buoy (Station 41033): 77.7 degrees.
