...July 2017 Climate Summary...

...Significant Flash Flood Events along Rocky Branch Creek on the 23rd and 24th...
...Multiple Episodes of Severe Weather Across the Midlands and CSRA during the month...
...Temperatures slightly above normal across the area... 
...Rainfall was heavy across the eastern Midlands and southern CSRA...

July was a very busy month for weather across the Midlands and
Central Savannah River Area. The weather was extremely unsettled
with multiple days of strong to severe thunderstorms. There were 
also several flash flood events that occurred during the month. 
Temperatures were slightly above normal for the month and rainfall
varied from northwest to southeast. The heaviest rain fell along 
and south of I-20, where 5 to 10 inches of rain fell. North of 
this line the rainfall averaged between 2 and 4 inches for the 
month. 


...Augusta Average Temperatures... 

The average temperature at Augusta Regional Bush Field for July 
was 83.6 degrees or 2.0 degrees above the normal of 81.6.

...Columbia Average Temperatures...

The average temperature at Columbia Metro Airport for July was
83.6 or 1.4 degrees above the normal of 82.2.



...Augusta Rainfall...

Augusta Bush Field received 5.04 inches of rainfall during July. 
Normal is 4.33 inches. 

...Columbia Rainfall...

Columbia Metro Airport received 5.42 inches of rainfall during 
July. Normal is 5.46 inches 

                                         
Here are some of the highest rainfall CoCoRaHS Reports for July:

SC-AK-74  Aiken 1.1 N............10.52 inches 
SC-AK-41  Aiken 2.5 S............10.42 inches 
SC-AK-26  Aiken 2.3 S.............9.55 inches 
SC-LX-22  Lexington 5.9 SW........9.42 inches
SC-AK-57  Aiken 2.9 SSE...........9.36 inches
SC-LX-108 Lexington 5.6 SW........8.96 inches
SC-AK-31  Aiken 3.5 SSE...........8.87 inches
SC-AK-23  Aiken 1.0 SW............8.76 inches
SC-RC-71  Forest Acres 0.7 NE.....8.59 inches
SC-AK-39  N. Augusta 1.5 WSW......8.54 inches

GA-CU-6   Martinez 0.9 NW........10.73 inches
GA-CU-7   Grovetown 3.4 NE........8.14 inches
GA-MD-1   Thomson 2.5 S...........6.33 inches
GA-BK-9   S. Augusta 4.1 S........6.21 inches
GA-RC-8   Augusta 1.2 NW..........3.41 inches


Here are some of the highest NWS Coop Observer Reports for July: 

THMG1 Thomson 1.5 SSE.............9.55 inches
MANS1 Manning.....................9.51 inches
AKIS1 Aiken 2 E...................9.32 inches
JOHS1 Johnston 4 SW...............9.24 inches
ORBS1 Orangeburg 2................8.24 inches


Highest Wind Gusts at ASOS Sites during July:

Augusta Bush Field (AGS)..............60 mph on the 15th
Columbia Hamilton Owens Field (CUB)...48 mph on the 24th
Columbia Metro Airport (CAE)..........44 mph on the 7th
Orangeburg County Airport (OGB).......40 mph on the 23rd
Augusta Daniel Field (DNL)............39 mph on the 26th


Highest Wind Gusts on the area lakes during July:

Lake Thurmond Dam (CHDS1).............43 mph on the 4th
Lake Wateree Dam (WATS1)..............43 mph on the 6th and 15th
Coast Guard Island (RCWINDS)..........39 mph on the 28th
Lake Murray Dam (RCWINDS).............38 mph on the 6th
Lake Murray Flotilla Island (LMFS1)...35 mph on the 28th
Lake Murray Towers (USGS).............33 mph on the 28th


Highest Wind Gusts from RCWINDS Mesonet Sites during July:

Williams Brice Stadium................55 mph on the 23rd
Pineview-Garners Ferry................44 mph on the 23rd
Landfill..............................42 mph on the 1st
Broad River Road - St. Andrews........42 mph on the 1st
Hamilton Owens Field..................41 mph on the 24th


Lake Murray Water Temperatures at The Towers:

Warmest...88.9 degrees on July 13th and 23rd 
Coolest...81.1 degrees on July 1st. 


TEMPERATURE RECORDS TIED OR BROKEN DURING THE MONTH OF 
July:

None


COLUMBIA... 

None 



Events for July 2017...

There were multiple severe weather events during the month of 
July. Most of these involved severe thunderstorms that downed
trees and powerlines. On July 19th damaging winds downed a tree on
a house near Manning in Clarendon County. With many locations
receiving above normal rainfall for the month, flash flooding
occurred on the 17th, 23rd, 24th and 27th of July. 

July 17th...A nearly stationary surface boundary and moist
atmosphere led to locally heavy rainfall and areas of flooding. 
The RCWINDS Mesonet site at Spring Valley High School reported
2.88 inches of rain in 30 minutes, then 3.98 inches in 1 hour with
a total of 4.69 inches for the day. The heavy rainfall led to
multiple vehicles stranded in flash flooding in the area of Two 
Notch Road and the Village of Sandhill in northeast Columbia. 

Here are some additional rainfall reports for the 17th:

Bridleridge West (Red Bank Area).......5.58 inches
4 E Swansea............................5.09 inches
White Knoll HS Area....................4.98 inches
Spring Valley HS.......................4.69 inches
1 ENE Red Bank.........................4.61 inches


July 23rd...A very moist airmass with precipitable water values 
over 2.0 inches was across the region. Slow moving thunderstorms 
produced locally heavy rainfall that produced flooding in Richland
and Chesterfield counties. In Chesterfield county near Mt. 
Croghan, heavy rainfall caused a pond to overflow and washed out 
portions of Gillmore Road. The rainfall also produced flooding in
downtown Columbia as Rocky Branch Creek and Smith Branch Creek
went above flood stage. A person had to be rescued from a vehicle
at the intersection of Whaley Street and Main Street as the car
was nearly submerged in flood waters. Gills Creek rose to near 
bankfull as well. Rocky Branch Creek at Whaley crested at 12.15 
ft, the third highest since the gage was installed, flood stage is
7.2 feet. Smith Branch in the Earlwood neighborhood crested at 
12.3 feet, flood stage is 9.0 feet. Gills Creek, near Devine 
Street and Rosewood Drive crested at 6.5 feet, flood stage is 6.7 
feet. 

Here are some rainfall reports for the 23rd:

MLK Park (Richland County Mesonet).....4.02 inches
6 E Jefferson (Chesterfield Co.).......3.84 inches
1 W Forest Acres (Richland Co.)........3.47 inches
Univ. of SC (NWS Coop).................3.25 inches
3 SE Pageland (Chesterfield Co.).......2.28 inches


July 24th...A very similar pattern as the 23rd with slow moving
thunderstorms and a very moist atmosphere. Once again flooding
occurred along Rocky Branch Creek in Columbia. The gage at Whaley
Street and Main Street crested at 10.19 feet, flood stage is 7.2
feet. 1 to 2 inches of rain fell in a short period of time. The
rain gage at USC reported 1.55 inches in 40 minutes. The RCWINDS 
site at Gills Creek reported 1.55 inches in 40 minutes. A NWS
employee reported 2.71 inches of rain in 1 hours in the Red Bank 
area. A car stalled on Senate Street due to the roadway being
flooded. 


July 27th...Slow moving thunderstorms combined with a very moist
airmass produced locally heavy rain in portions of the Central
Savannah River Area just north of Augusta. This produced flash
flooding that pushed Reed Creek out of its banks flooding portions
of the Martinez area. Water from the creek lifted a vehicle and 
pushed it into a home. 

Here are some rainfall reports for the 27th:

Martinez 0.9 NW (CoCoRaHS).......3.44 inches
Grovetown 3.4 NE (CoCoRaHS)......3.14 inches
N. Augusta 1.5 WSW (CoCoRaHS)....2.23 inches
Savannah River Augusta (USGS)....1.15 inches


July 30th-31st...An unseasonably cool airmass moved southeast 
into the region behind a cold front that moved across the 
Carolinas and Georgia on the 29th. Although no record low 
temperatures were set, many locations reported morning low 
temperatures in the middle to upper 50s on the morning of the 
31st. 

Here are some of the morning low temperatures from the 31st:

Cedar Creek (NWS COOP)............55 degrees
3 NNE Gloverville.................55 degrees
Saluda (NWS COOP).................56 degrees
8 SE New Ellenton.................56 degrees
8 E Fort Jackson..................56 degrees
Lake Greenwood (NWS COOP).........57 degrees
3 SE Ridgeway.....................57 degrees
Lancaster County Airport..........57 degrees
Sumter Municipal Airport..........57 degrees
Bishopville (NWS COOP)............58 degrees



YEAR TO DATE MONTHLY TEMPERATURE AND PRECIPITATION STATISTICS...

COLUMBIA SC METROPOLITAN AIRPORT 2015/2016/2017 MONTHLY AVERAGE 
TEMPERATURES AND DEPARTURES FROM NORMAL...

          AVG HIGH/DEP   AVG LOW/DEP   AVG TEMP   NORM  DEPARTURE 
JAN 2015  55.7/-0.3      33.7/ 0.0      44.7      44.8    -0.1 
FEB       54.1/-6.2      32.1/-4.7      43.1      48.5    -5.4  
MAR       70.3/+2.1      46.9/+3.9      58.6      55.6    +3.0 
APR       77.8/+1.5      50.4/+5.7      67.0      63.4    +3.6  
MAY       86.0/+2.2      61.0/+1.5      73.5      71.7    +1.8
JUN       93.6/+3.6      71.6/+3.4      82.6      79.1    +3.5 
JUL       96.4/+3.7      74.3/+2.7      85.3      82.2    +3.1  
AUG       92.9/+2.2      72.2/+1.2      82.6      80.8    +1.8  
SEP       85.9/+0.7      67.6/+3.4      76.7      74.7    +2.0
OCT       75.6/-0.5      53.6/+1.5      64.6      64.1    +0.5
NOV       69.4/+2.1      48.6/+6.3      59.0      54.8    +4.2 
DEC       70.1/+11.9     50.1/+14.8     60.1      46.7   +13.4  

JAN 2016  55.1/-0.9      33.6/-0.1      44.3      44.8    -0.5  
FEB       60.1/-0.2      37.9/+1.1      49.0      48.5    +0.5 
MAR       75.0/+6.8      49.8/+6.8      62.4      55.6    +6.8
APR       78.1/+1.8      53.6/+3.2      65.8      63.4    +2.4 
MAY       83.4/-0.4      61.9/+2.4      72.7      71.7    +1.0
JUN       94.2/+4.2      71.7/+3.5      83.0      79.1    +3.9
JUL       99.2/+6.5      75.2/+3.6      87.2      82.2    +5.0
AUG       93.8/+3.1      74.8/+3.8      84.3      80.8    +3.5 
SEP       89.2/+4.0      69.6/+5.4      79.4      74.7    +4.7 
OCT       80.5/+4.4      56.0/+3.9      68.3      64.1    +4.2
NOV       70.6/+3.3      41.8/-0.5      56.2      54.8    +1.4
DEC       59.6/+1.4      39.9/+4.6      49.7      46.7    +3.0

JAN 2017  64.5/+8.5      43.0/+9.3      53.7      44.8    +8.9
FEB       71.4/+11.1     43.1/+6.3      57.2      48.5    +8.7  
MAR       70.9/+2.7      44.1/+1.1      57.5      55.6    +1.9
APR       81.0/+4.7      57.7/+7.3      69.4      63.4    +6.0  
MAY       85.2/+1.4      61.9/+2.4      73.6      71.7    +1.9 
JUN       89.3/-0.7      70.1/+1.9      79.7      79.1    +0.6
JUL       93.7/+1.0      73.5/+1.9      83.6      82.2    +1.4
  

AUGUSTA GA BUSH FIELD 2015/2016/2017 MONTHLY AVERAGE TEMPERATURES 
AND DEPARTURES FROM NORMAL...

          AVG HIGH/DEP   AVG LOW/DEP   AVG TEMP   NORM  DEPARTURE 
JAN 2015  55.8/-2.1      32.1/-0.7     44.0       45.4    -1.4
FEB       55.4/-6.9      30.1/-5.8     42.8       49.1    -6.3 
MAR       71.3/+1.4      45.3/+3.3     58.3       55.9    +2.4
APR       77.8/+0.5      54.9/+6.8     66.3       62.7    +3.6
MAY       86.7/+1.7      58.1/+0.8     72.4       71.1    +1.3
JUN       93.1/+2.1      68.1/+1.9     80.6       78.6    +2.0
JUL       95.8/+2.4      71.3/+1.5     83.6       81.6    +2.0 
AUG       91.4/-0.4      69.8/+0.5     80.6       80.5    +0.1
SEP       85.5/-1.2      65.1/+2.5     75.3       74.6    +0.7 
OCT       77.7/-2.1      52.4/+1.4     64.0       64.4    -0.4  
NOV       70.2/+1.1      47.0/+5.6     58.6       55.2    +3.4 
DEC       70.3/+10.3     48.3/+13.8    59.3       47.2   +12.1  

JAN 2016  55.3/-2.6      33.1/+0.3     44.2       45.4    -1.2 
FEB       61.7/-0.6      37.9/+2.0     49.8       49.0    +0.7
MAR       74.4/+4.5      47.1/+5.1     60.8       55.9    +4.9 
APR       77.5/+0.2      50.1/+2.0     63.8       62.7    +1.2    
MAY       83.2/-1.8      58.2/+0.9     70.7       71.1    -0.4
JUN       92.2/+1.2      68.8/+2.6     80.5       78.6    +1.9
JUL       97.5/+4.1      71.7/+1.9     84.6       81.6    +3.0 
AUG       94.2/+2.4      72.1/+2.8     83.1       80.2    +2.6
SEP       88.9/+2.2      66.0/+3.4     77.4       74.6    +2.8 
OCT       82.5/+4.8      53.8/+2.8     68.2       64.4    +3.8 
NOV       73.4/+4.3      41.2/-0.2     57.3       55.2    +2.1 
DEC       62.4/+2.4      41.8/+7.3     52.4       47.2    +5.2 

JAN 2017  67.5/+9.6      43.5/+10.7    55.5       45.4   +10.1  
FEB       73.2/+10.9     43.4/+7.5     58.3       49.1    +9.2
MAR       73.7/+3.8      43.8/+1.8     58.8       55.9    +2.9
APR       83.2/+5.9      55.4/+7.3     69.3       62.7    +6.6  
MAY       87.1/+2.1      61.1/+3.8     74.1       71.1    +3.0
JUN       90.8/-0.2      69.4/+3.2     80.1       78.6    +1.5       
JUL       94.3/+0.9      72.9/+3.1     83.6       81.6    +2.0

 
COLUMBIA SC METROPOLITAN AIRPORT 2015/2016/2017 MONTHLY 
PRECIPITATION...

               TOTAL   NORMAL   DEPARTURE  
              (INCHES) 
JAN 2015       2.60     3.58    -0.98
FEB            4.76     3.61    +1.15
MAR            2.78     3.73    -0.95
APR            4.03     2.62    +1.41
MAY            1.71     2.97    -1.26
JUN            8.79     4.69    +4.10  
JUL            1.53     5.46    -3.93
AUG            4.85     5.26    -0.41
SEP            6.15     3.54    +2.61 
OCT           14.46     3.17   +11.29 
NOV            5.47     2.74    +2.73 
DEC            6.45     3.22    +3.23
ANNUAL        63.58    44.59   +18.99 

JAN 2016       1.94     3.58    -1.64
FEB            4.69     3.61    +1.08
MAR            1.88     3.73    -1.85
APR            2.80     2.62    +0.18  
MAY            2.61     2.97    -0.36
JUN            2.39     4.69    -2.30
JUL            1.79     5.46    -3.67
AUG            4.83     5.26    -0.43
SEP            6.81     3.54    +3.27
OCT            2.09     3.27    -1.18
NOV            2.01     2.74    -0.73
DEC            3.35     3.22    +0.13 
ANNUAL        39.55    44.59    -5.04

JAN 2017       7.04     3.58    +3.46
FEB            1.60     3.61    -2.01 
MAR            2.38     3.73    -1.35
APR            6.11     2.62    +3.49 
MAY            7.15     2.97    +4.18
JUN            5.13     4.69    +0.44
JUL            5.42     5.46    -0.04

AUGUSTA GA BUSH FIELD 2015/2016/2017 MONTHLY PRECIPITATION...

               TOTAL   NORMAL   DEPARTURE  
              (INCHES)  
JAN 2015       2.10     3.91     -1.81
FEB            4.70     3.92     +0.78
MAR            3.04     4.18     -1.14
APR            4.86     2.84     +2.02 
MAY            0.93     2.65     -1.72
JUN            3.50     4.72     -1.22
JUL            3.52     4.33     -0.81
AUG            3.74     4.32     -0.58
SEP            4.05     3.22     +0.83
OCT            4.62     3.27     +1.35
NOV            5.41     2.82     +2.59
DEC            6.92     3.39     +3.53
ANNUAL        47.39    43.57     +3.82   

JAN 2016       1.66     3.91     -2.25
FEB            3.76     3.92     -0.16 
MAR            3.18     4.18     -1.00
APR            4.42     2.84     +1.58
MAY            5.71     2.65     +3.06 
JUN            2.87     4.72     -1.85
JUL            1.31     4.33     -3.02
AUG            3.66     4.32     -0.66
SEP            6.81     3.54     +3.27
OCT            4.45     3.17     +1.28 
NOV            0.62     2.82     -2.20 
DEC            4.41     3.39     +1.02
ANNUAL        38.27    43.57     -5.02

JAN 2017      10.13     3.91     +6.22  
FEB            2.11     3.92     -1.81 
MAR            1.77     4.18     -2.41
APR            2.60     2.84     -0.24
MAY            3.14     2.65     +0.69
JUN            3.52     4.72     -1.20 
JUL            5.04     4.33     +0.71
  

The 3-Month Outlook for late Summer/early Fall (August/September/October)...

The outlook calls for a 40 to 50 percent chance of above normal 
temperatures with equal chances of above...below and normal precipitation. 

GO TO THE CLIMATE PREDICTION CENTER WEB PAGE AT 
WWW.CPC.NCEP.NOAA.GOV IN LOWER CASE LETTERS FOR MORE DETAILS AND THE 
LATEST OUTLOOKS.
   

ENSO (EL NINO SOUTHERN OSCILLATION)...
...ENSO Neutral Conditions Are Present...

Equatorial sea surface temperatures are near average across most of 
the Pacific Ocean. ENSO Neutral is favored (50 to 55 percent chance) 
through the Northern Hemisphere Winter 2017-18.   

CLIMATE OUTLOOKS AND ENSO DISCUSSIONS COURTESY NOAA CLIMATE
PREDICTION CENTER...WWW.CPC.NOAA.GOV.
  
Note...much appreciation goes out to our NWS Cooperative Weather 
Observers...CoCoRaHS (Community...Collaborative...Rain...Hail and
Snow Network) Observers...South Carolina State Climate Office...
Southeast Regional Climate Center...Richland County Emergency 
Services...USGS and local weather partners for the data they provide 
throughout the year. Their hard work and dedication is greatly 
appreciated.  

Temperature records for Columbia go back to 1887 and for Augusta  
back to 1873. Precipitation records for Columbia go back to 1878 
and for Augusta back to 1871.  

ADDITIONAL CLIMATE INFORMATION...INCLUDING CURRENT AND ARCHIVED 
DAILY AND MONTHLY SUMMARIES...CAN BE FOUND ON THE NATIONAL WEATHER 
SERVICE COLUMBIA SC HOME PAGE AT 
HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/CAE .

$$

VAUGHAN

$$