Strong, gusty winds continued across the area, behind Sunday’s cold front and into Monday, December 2, as high pressure built back over the area. The National Weather Service (NWS) at the Columbia Metropolitan and Florence Regional Airports recorded wind gusts up to 30 mph throughout the day. Morning low temperatures ranged from the upper 30s in the Upstate to the low 40s near the coast. With the cool and dry air in place, the high temperatures at many locations struggled to the upper 50s, slightly below normal. By early Tuesday morning, the winds diminished, allowing for strong radiational cooling. Low temperatures were up to ten degrees below normal across the state, with locations reporting temperatures in the upper 20s to low 30s, though stations in the mountains reported minimums in the low 20s.
The dry conditions continued through midweek, but, under clear and sunny skies, daytime temperatures were able to warm closer to normal for this time of year, despite the cooler mornings. Morning lows in the low to upper 30s gave way to maximum temperatures in the low ??? on Wednesday and the mid-60s on Thursday. By Friday, the high pressure shifted offshore, and moisture returned to the area, as a quick-moving, weak low-pressure system brought a slight chance of showers across the Southeast. CoCoRaHS observers in McClellanville and Moncks Corner reported between 0.25 and 0.33 inches of rain, and additional reports of up to 0.20 inches were received from the Lowcountry and Pee Dee regions.
By Saturday morning, high pressure over the Northeast U.S. provided cooler temperatures and some drier air across the area. Morning temperatures climbed from the upper 40s to low 50s into the mid-60s by the afternoon on Saturday, providing another ‘chamber of commerce’ day across much of the Palmetto State. The high shifted eastward on Sunday as a warm front associated with a low-pressure system forming along the Gulf Coast set up along the Southeast coast. The increased moisture provided clouds across the region and scattered showers across parts of the Grand Strand in the Pee Dee and some portions of the Upstate. The warm front started to lift northward last? on Sunday and began to move through the state on Monday as an approaching cold front impacted the region at 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 (NWS) Cooperative Observer network and the National Weather Service's Forecast Offices.)| Weekly* | Since Jan 1 | Departure | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Anderson Airport | Trace | 35.05 | -6.2 |
| Greer Airport | 0.01 | 45.56 | 1.4 |
| Charlotte, NC Airport | 0.01 | 49.32 | 10.1 |
| Columbia Metro Airport | 0.00 | 33.22 | -9.0 |
| Orangeburg Airport | 0.00 | 25.67 | -18.7 |
| Augusta, GA Airport | 0.00 | 43.07 | 2.1 |
| Florence Airport | 0.01 | 39.03 | -1.6 |
| North Myrtle Beach Airport | 0.59 | 51.53 | 2.0 |
| Charleston Air Force Base | 0.09 | 43.06 | -5.6 |
| Savannah, GA Airport | 0.00 | 44.86 | -0.9 |
| *Weekly precipitation totals ending midnight Sunday. M - denotes total with missing values. |
4-inch depth soil temperature: Clinton: 50 degrees. Columbia: 55 degrees. Barnwell: 48 degrees. Mullins: 40 degrees.
This weekly period was drier than the previous one, with less than half an inch of rain falling across the state. Most of that was the result of the cold front, which pushed through the region on Sunday. Most of the National Weather Service stations and CoCoRaHS observers across the state reported less than a tenth of an inch across the Midlands, with reports of up to a quarter of an inch in the Lowcountry and Upstate. However, coastal portions of Horry County reported up to half an inch of rain over the last seven days. The year-to-date rainfall totals remain between 75 and 90 percent of normal across much of the state. Some parts of the Central Savannah River Area and the Midlands are lower, and areas in the mountainous Upstate are higher. The consistent rainfall over the last few weeks has brought increased streamflow values across the entire state. However, with the fairly dry week, some of the streamflow gauges showed media flow values have dropped below normal. The USGS river gauges continued to show below-normal flows on their 14-day flow product on parts of the Savannah (despite being regulated) and in portions of the Pee Dee Basin.
