South Carolina's Wettest Summer

This past summer was cool and wet for Columbia and this was the topic of a previous post.  It turns out that Columbia was not alone.  In fact some areas had much more rain than Columbia.  The mountains of South Carolina saw record rainfall for the summer with an average of over 40 inches.  On August 6^th over 5 inches of rain fell in the Upstate resulting in one drowning death in Pickens County.

Summer rainfall averaged for the mountains of South Carolina (division 1) since 1895.  2013 was the wettest on record.  Click on the image for a larger view.  Image Credit: NOAA/NCDC.

The wettest areas were in the Upstate, Pee Dee, north coastal, and central divisions of South Carolina.  These divisions saw record summer rainfall while all other divisions were at least in the top 10 wettest.

A ranking of summer rainfall for South Carolina since 1895.  Click on the image for a larger view.  Image Credit: NOAA/NCDC.

A ranking of summer rainfall for South Carolina since 1895 with other states in the U.S.  Click on the image for a larger view.  Image Credit: NOAA/NCDC.

Karen Fizzles

Karen, the eleventh tropical storm of the season, dissipated along the central Gulf coast Sunday morning.  This was a relief to that area of the country, but was not expected from the forecast three days before.  The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) had already begun to recall personnel on furlough from the government shutdown.  Keep in mind that meteorologists at the National Weather Service (NWS) and National Hurricane Center (NHC) were already on the job, just not getting paid.

So what happened?

The tropical storm formed Thursday morning north of the Yucatan Peninsula and in my last post you can see what the track models were suggesting.  However, the storm was already being affected by a southwesterly shear aloft and dry air covered much of the western Gulf of Mexico.

The visible satellite picture of Karen for 21z Thursday, October 3. 2013.  The center of circulation is north of the Yucatan Peninsula.  Notice the asymmetry in the storm with all of the thunderstorms east of the center.  Dry air west of the center kept storms to a minimum.  Click on the image for a larger view.  Image Credit: UCAR.

Karen Will Affect South Carolina

Tropical Storm Karen formed just north of the Yucatan Peninsula Friday morning (correction: that should be Thursday morning).  The system had been moving northwest through the western Caribbean since early in the week.  Conditions were finally favorable for development.

Now Karen takes aim on the U.S.  It has been moving slowly through the southern Gulf of Mexico and toward the north-northwest.  Hurricane hunters found winds of near 60 mph this morning prompting the upgrade to tropical storm status.

As of 11 p.m. EDT, Thursday, Tropical Storm Karen was 340 miles south of the mouth of the Mississippi River moving north-northwest at 10 mph.  Maximum sustained winds were 65 mph in squalls to the northeast.

The wind field around Tropical Storm Karen as of 00z October 4, 2013.  Winds are measured in knots.  The Yucatan Peninsula can be seen in the lower part of the image.  Click on the image for a larger view.  Image Credit: NOAA/NHC.