On Monday, March 24, a cold front moved through the area, bringing rain showers and isolated thunderstorms throughout the day. Daytime temperatures ranged from the mid-60s to the low 70s. Rainfall totals by Tuesday morning ranged from less than an inch to a quarter of an inch in portions of the Central Savannah River Area. Dry air filtered back into the region as high pressure settled over the area on Tuesday, accompanied by breezy conditions, and maximum temperatures were up to ten degrees above normal, with highs reaching the mid-to-upper 70s.
The warming trend continued throughout the rest of the period, with maximum temperatures in the upper 70s to low 80s, ranging between ten and fifteen degrees above normal. However, with the dry air mass over the region, overnight temperatures were slightly cooler than normal, with morning temperatures dropping into the mid-30s to mid-40s across the state. Given the breezy conditions resulting from weak high pressure off the North Carolina coast and low humidity levels, fire danger remained high. By Friday evening, the Table Rock Fire had grown to over 8,500 acres, and the Persimmon Ridge Fire had reached roughly 2,000 acres.
High pressure shifted off the coast on Saturday, resulting in warmer temperatures, and the southerly flow gradually increased moisture throughout the weekend. Cloud cover increased throughout the day on Sunday, and scattered showers developed late Sunday afternoon, producing rainfall totals of over half an inch by Monday morning in portions of the Upstate, which aided firefighters in combating the wildfires in the South Carolina mountains.
(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 | 0.77 | 8.61 | -3.6 |
| Greer Airport | 1.24 | 9.65 | -2.7 |
| Charlotte, NC Airport | 0.49 | 6.79 | -3.7 |
| Columbia Metro Airport | 0.18 | 6.73 | -2.9 |
| Orangeburg 2 (COOP) | 0.89M | 8.44M | -3.2M |
| Augusta, GA Airport | 0.48 | 8.73 | -2.7 |
| Florence Airport | 0.54 | 7.68 | -1.6 |
| North Myrtle Beach Airport | 0.05 | 5.32 | -4.5 | Charleston Air Force Base | Trace | 4.77 | -4.9 |
| Savannah, GA Airport | 0.46 | 6.43 | -3.0 |
| *Weekly precipitation totals ending midnight Sunday. M - denotes total with missing values. s - denotes total with suspect data. |
4-inch depth soil temperature: Columbia: 65 degrees. Barnwell: 58 degrees. Mullins: 67 degrees.
Rainfall totals during the period were the result of showers on Monday and late Sunday afternoon, ranging from less than a tenth of an inch in portions of the Pee Dee region to over an inch in the Upstate, especially in areas near the Interstate 85 corridor. Isolated portions of the Central Savannah River Area and southern Midlands also recorded close to an inch of rain. The U.S. Drought Monitor map, released on Thursday, March 25, indicated that drought conditions had worsened due to the lack of precipitation, windy conditions, and low humidity. The severe drought (D2) conditions expanded across parts of Georgetown and Horry counties and were introduced in a portion of the Central Savannah River Area. Some moderate (D1) designations were also added to parts of the South Carolina mountains.
Even with rainfall during the period, the lack of rainfall from the previous periods caused more of the 14-day average streamflow values in the Broad, Saluda, and Upper Savannah River basins to continue to record values below normal, with some values on smaller tributaries of the Saluda and Savannah rivers recording values well below normal flows. While some of the gauges south of the Fall Line reported values within the normal range, others reported values at the lower end of the normal range, with a few recording values that were below normal. The height levels at the river and the tidal gauges remained below the flood stage.
