SOUTH CAROLINA WEATHER AND CLIMATE

December 9 - 15, 2002


WEATHER SUMMARY

With the official start of Winter still a week away, mid-Winter like conditions dominated the period with sub-normal temperatures. Clouds on Monday turned into rainshowers on Tuesday. High temperatures were in the 40's and lower 50's. Moist southwest winds ahead of another cold front on Friday helped widespread rains fall across the Palmetto State. Just before its passage, coastal sites enjoyed a mild day with high temperatures in the mid 60's. After some slow clearing on Saturday, early morning lows on Sunday fell back below freezing. Sunny skies and light winds ended the week. The average statewide temperature for the period was three degrees below normal.

PRECIPITATION AND TEMPERATURE DATA

The highest temperature reported was 67 degrees at Beaufort, Jamestown, and Charleston AP on December 13. The lowest temperature was 21 degrees at Lake Bowen on the morning of December 15. The heaviest official 24-hour rainfall reported was 2.31" ending at 7:00 a.m. on December 11. The average statewide rainfall for the period was 1.4."

                       Precipitation
                Period    2002       Deviation*	       Temperature
Location         Total   Total        From Avg.    Maximum	Minimum	
Greer             1.91   45.00            3.2B        NA           27                       	              	
Columbia          1.66   45.18            1.2B        56           28
Florence          0.88   35.47            7.4B        NA           27	        
Charleston        1.95   57.89            8.1A        67           31
N Myrtle Beach    1.65   38.27            5.7B        NA           33
Augusta, Ga.      1.90   38.68            4.2B        57           23 
A=Above, B=Below                                                                       
                      
                                                              

Note: Weekly rainfall amounts are for the 24-hour period ending midnight Sunday.

SOIL

4 inch depth average soil temperature: Columbia 49 degrees.

RIVERS AND SURF

South Carolina river stages range from below to above normal. Surf temperatures at Myrtle Beach and Savannah will average around 51 degrees.


sco@water.dnr.state.sc.us
http://water.dnr.state.sc.us/climate/sco/weekly/wk121502.html