COLUMBIA, S.C. — The start of the fall season in the Midlands has been mostly warm and dry. October’s temperatures have been mostly above average, but during the middle of the month, we did experience not only below-seasonal-average high temperatures but also low temperatures close to freezing. However, those low temperatures were not cold enough to cause the first freeze.
There has also been a lack of rainfall across the Midlands, and that has caused abnormally dry and moderate drought conditions to return to a large portion of South Carolina.
Seasonally, the first freeze usually occurs in the first week of November. Although Oct. 18 and 19 got close, with morning temperatures of 36 and 37 degrees, respectively, those were the only dates in the month when temperatures dropped into the 30s…