I’m sure we have all seen the devastation that very heavy rainfall has caused in South Carolina. Some of the rainfall totals coming out of portions of the state are astounding. These amounts come from a variety of sources, some verified and some not, but still when you look at the overall picture it’s quite easy to see why there are so many water issues occurring. A pretty widespread swatch of nearly 20+ inches of rainfall is shown on the map below in areas that are shaded in the dark purple color. To put this into perspective our area normally sees somewhere around 35-37″ of precipitation in an entire year on average. So to have nearly over half that amount occur in a span of just a few days is absolutely astounding and would definitely cause issues no matter what part of the country you are in! Many factors came together at the right time and place to help produce these extreme rainfall values. Many people are calling this a 100,200+ year event so the magnitude is quite large. This event served as a reminder to anyone watching the disturbing pictures on the web/TV of people being rescued in their vehicles, that it is never a good idea to cross a flooded roadway, no matter how well you think your vehicle may fare. It just isn’t worth it. Turn around, don’t drown.
Back here at home clouds this time of year sure can wreck havoc on a forecast and that’s exactly what happened this past weekend. Saturday wasn’t too bad at all, especially since the sunshine was around but once Sunday rolled around and the clouds came in, temperatures really struggled to move much during the afternoon. In fact we only made it up to a high of 56 degrees that afternoon. Now that’s some crisp fall weather!
Things are changing thankfully in terms of our weather pattern here due in part to an approaching cold front that will move through during the second half of this week. Ahead of this feature a much warmer air mass will be drawn into the area bringing the month’s first 70 degree temperature readings. Doesn’t that sound nice? The warming begins Tuesday with the expectation that any fog and clouds around in the morning will break up a bit allowing for more sunshine. This should help us attain highs in the lower 70s with light winds, so overall a really nice day expected.
The warming trend continues right through Wednesday with continued sunny periods along with a few clouds, temperatures will hit the middle 70s.
As the front draws close to the area Thursday some scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms will be possible during the afternoon hours, however no heavy rain or severe weather is expected as the energy associated with the cold front is fairly weak.
After the front moves through we’ll cool off a bit for only a couple days before a much more substantial warming trend moves in for the new weekend. In fact, it appears we may see some late season 80 degree readings early next week! Stay tuned!
