A slow-moving storm system brought showers and warmer temperatures across the area for the start of the workweek. With plenty of moisture ahead of the warm front on Monday, December 9, some isolated and scattered showers developed, mainly in the Upstate. While the morning lows across the state were in the 40s, the highs for the day ranged by nearly twenty-five degrees. The National Weather Service (NWS) station at the Anderson Airport reported a high of 48 degrees, while the NWS station at the Charleston International Airport recorded a high of 72 degrees. The wedge of cold air remained in place on Tuesday, as a cold front approached from the west. Ahead of the front, a warm air mass caused near record highs in many locations in the Lowcountry, Midlands and Pee Dee. The NWS station at the Florence Regional Airport measured a maximum of 80 degrees, and the NWS station at the Beaufort MCAS broke the daily record high (81 degrees in 1972) with a maximum of 82 degrees. As the front pushed through the area, scattered rain dropped up to three-quarters of an inch in localized portions of the state; most reports were less than half an inch. Much cooler and drier temperatures returned to the region as the cold front pushed off the coast. Lows were in the 30s in the Upstate to the 40s near the coast, and high temperatures shifted to near normal values, topping out in the upper 40s to low 50s.
By Thursday, high pressure in the Mid-Atlantic caused ridging over the region, as a low-pressure system started to form in the Gulf of Mexico. Morning low temperatures across the state ranged from the upper 20s to the mid-30s, and the daytime highs reached the upper 40s to low 50s. The day was mostly dry, but rain developed ahead of the low-pressure and spread northward by the overnight hours. On Friday, December 13, the low-pressure system in the northern Gulf of Mexico funneled moisture into the region along a stalled frontal boundary. While temperatures were cool, in the upper 30s to low 40s, they remained above freezing, limiting any threat of freezing rain which was observed in parts of western North Carolina. Most of the major reporting stations recorded an inch of rain due to the system. However, there were reports of intense rain rates and flooding along the I-20 corridor from Augusta to Columbia, where the axis of the heaviest rain fell. Storm reports of water over roads came in from locations in Aiken, Edgefield, Lexington and Richland counties. The NWS station located at the Columbia Metropolitan Airport measured a record of 4.16 inches of rain for the day, breaking the previous daily rainfall total for the day of 1.99 inches set back in 1953.
The low pressure located along the Mid-Atlantic coast and lingering showers early on Saturday gave way to clearing skies as dryer air moved back into the area. Temperatures initially in the low to mid-40s climbed into the upper 50s to low 60s. Behind the front, the winds picked up out of the west throughout the day, and an event tent in Downtown Charleston went airborne despite being weighed down. The non-thunderstorm wind gusts at the time were estimated at 30 mph. The next front began to approach the area from the northwest, but the dry conditions continued, with slightly above normal temperatures to round out the weekend.
(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 | 2.00 | 37.05 | -5.2 |
| Greer Airport | 1.99 | 47.55 | 2.4 |
| Charlotte, NC Airport | 2.45 | 51.77 | 11.8 |
| Columbia Metro Airport | 5.09 | 38.31 | -4.6 |
| Orangeburg Airport | 1.97 | 27.64 | -17.4 |
| Augusta, GA Airport | 3.50 | 46.57 | 4.8 |
| Florence Airport | 2.22 | 41.25 | 0.0/td> |
| North Myrtle Beach Airport | 1.04 | 52.54 | 2.2 |
| Charleston Air Force Base | 1.67 | 44.73 | -4.6 |
| Savannah, GA Airport | 0.91 | 45.77/td> | -0.6 |
| *Weekly precipitation totals ending midnight Sunday. M - denotes total with missing values. |
4-inch depth soil temperature: Clinton: 46 degrees. Columbia: 52 degrees. Barnwell: 45 degrees. Mullins: 40 degrees.
After a dry period last week, the wet pattern returned, bringing multiple rounds of rain across the Palmetto State. Most of that was the result of the low-pressure system, which pushed through the region on Thursday and Friday. Most of the National Weather Service stations and CoCoRaHS observers across the state reported at least an inch of rain over the seven days. However, portions of the Midlands recorded over six inches of rain, and streamflow values rose rapidly in the areas impacted by the heaviest rains. The USGS river gauges along the Savannah near the Augusta area rose to normal flows for the first time in months. There were reports of flooding along some of the tributaries of the river, as streams struggled to handle the intense rain rates. 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, 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 Pee Dee Basin and along sections of the Edisto River.
