Flash Flood Watches continue through Thursday evening for much of the Pee Dee, Grand Strand, and Upstate areas thanks to unseasonably high tropical moisture over the state.
A slow-moving cold front will act to "lift" the the humid, unstable air and will act as a focus for local downpours. In addition, moisture high in the atmosphere is streaming northward from Florida associated with Tropical Storm Eta. Widespread rainfall amounts of 1 to 3 inches are forecast through Friday, with locally heavier amounts under the most persistent downpours. Drier air is forecast to move into the state behind the front and as Eta moves offshore by Saturday.
The unseasonably humid air mass has prevented temperatures from falling considerably at night. Charleston has had 4 straight days of record high minimum temperatures going back to Sunday. Columbia's temperature on Wednesday morning fell to 73 degrees. If it does not fall below 70 degrees by midnight Thursday, it would the warmest low temperature ever recorded during the month of November in Columbia. Record high temperatures have also been set in Columbia this week, including a high of 83 on Tuesday, tying a record from 1895.