Thunderstorms not expected to ease heat by much
Temperatures have dipped back into the double digits after this weekend’s record-setting heat wave and quick-moving thunderstorms. Still, USC weather experts are predicting a hotter-than-usual summer for Columbia.
A high-pressure ridge that has trapped heat over the central United States — spurring wildfires, canceling events and frying eggs on sidewalks — spread eastward and finally reached the Midlands on Friday. The heat wave sent temperatures skyrocketing well above 100 F, with the official recording for Columbia reaching 109 F, the warmest that the city has seen in 50 years.
The hottest temperatures in the state were recorded at USC, which measured a record-breaking 113 Friday afternoon. Camden held the previous state record of 111 in 1954. It was enough to keep even the native residents of a city that touts itself as “famously hot” indoors and out of the haze.
Warnings were issued last Friday that the high temperatures from warm, moist air over the Gulf of Mexico would roll over the Atlantic coast over the weekend and linger until July 4. By Sunday, however, the Midlands also encountered a mix of cold air from the north, setting up a recipe for sudden thunderstorms, hail and winds at 60 mph — just hours after Columbia stood baking under clear, sunny skies. The storms caused power outages across South Carolina that left over 50,000 residents without electricity, according to SCE&G.
The storms also knocked temperatures down 35 degrees in a matter of two hours, according to geography professor Greg Carbone. More thunderstorms are predicted for the remainder of the week, but earth and ocean sciences professor Venkat Lakshmi says they won’t be enough to counteract droughts from the heat onset. In the summer months, rainfall evaporates about one-half inch per day.
“The thunderstorms are only a drop in the bucket,” Lakshmi said. “It actually causes more harm than good because the high winds and heavy rains create debris that clogs water and storm drains and causes greater sediment pollution of rivers.”
Temperatures for the remainder of the week are expected to reach 89 to 97 F. But with the Midwest still trapped in a heat wave, Carbone says temperatures in the Southeast could easily rise above 100 again.
“It doesn’t take much — just a shift in that ridge and we all get it,” Carbone said. “Even if that doesn’t happen, with the past two weeks of high pressure building, we’re looking at at least two to three weeks of higher-than-average temperatures for a large portion of the country.”
With a week already headed off by high heat and humidity, Monday morning wasn’t the best day for an emergency air conditioning outage at several buildings on campus. Repairs to the chilled water pipe running from USC’s West Energy plant on Sunday night left the Thomas Cooper Library and the Ernest F. Hollings Special Collections Library without cooling for most of Monday. According to an email from Carolina Alert, the lines to the library were repaired by the end of the day, but it was a sweltering day for Dean of Libraries Tom McNally and the few library employees who stayed in the building Monday.
“We had to send most of the staff home,” McNally said. “It was definitely cooking in here.”