1998 Atlantic hurricane season

**1998 Atlantic hurricane season**
 **Total damage** | $17.54 Billion (1998 USD)

The **1998 Atlantic hurricane season** was an above-average season. This season featured a total of 14 tropical cyclones, 14 named storms, 10 hurricanes, and 3 major hurricanes. The two most notable storms were Georges, and Mitch. Georges, the costliest storm of the season, devastated the Caribbean and Gulf Shore causing 604 direct deaths, and $9.72 Billion 1999 USD in damage. While Mitch, dropped torrential rainfall over Honduras and Nicaragua, causing over $6.2 Billion 1999 USD in damage, and killing 19,325 people, leaving Mitch known as one of the deadliest storms on record.

## Storms

### Tropical Storm Alex

 Duration
 Peak intensity

*Main article: Tropical Storm Alex (1998)*
Alex was the first tropical cyclone of the 1998 season and remained over the open waters of the tropical Atlantic throughout its lifetime.

### Hurricane Bonnie

 Duration
 Peak intensity

*Main article: Hurricane Bonnie (1998)*
Bonnie was the third hurricane to directly hit the coast of North Carolina during the past three years.

### Tropical Storm Charley

 Duration
 Peak intensity

*Main article: Tropical Storm Charley (1998)*

### Hurricane Danielle

 Duration
 Peak intensity

*Main article: Hurricane Danielle (1998)*
Danielle had a long track across the Atlantic. Although it did not seriously impact land as a tropical cyclone, it battered portions of Great Britain as an extratropical system.

### Hurricane Earl

 Duration
 Peak intensity

*Main article: Hurricane Earl (1998)*
Earl made landfall on the Florida panhandle as a category 1 hurricane on the Saffir/Simpson Hurricane Scale (SSHS),resulting in significant storm surge flooding in the “Big Bend” area of Florida.

### Tropical Storm Frances

 Duration
 Peak intensity

*Main article: Tropical Storm Frances (1998)*
Frances was a tropical storm that brought more than 15 inches of rainfall to portions of east Texas, about ten inches in southern Louisiana, and lesser amounts were spread northward across Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, and Iowa.

### Hurricane Georges

 Duration
 Peak intensity

*Main article: Hurricane Georges*
Georges (pronounced Zhorzh) was the second deadliest and second strongest hurricane within the Atlantic basin during the 1998 season. Its 17 day journey resulted in seven landfalls, extending from the northeastern Caribbean to the coast of Mississippi, and 602 fatalities -- mainly in the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

### Tropical Storm Hermine

 Duration
 Peak intensity

*Main article: Tropical Storm Hermine (1998)*

### Hurricane Ivan

 Duration
 Peak intensity

*Main article: Hurricane Ivan (1998)*

### Hurricane Jeanne

 Duration
 Peak intensity

*Main article: Hurricane Jeanne (1998)*
Jeanne remained over the eastern Atlantic. It brushed the Cape Verde Islands, and also caused some gusty winds over the Azores just before losing tropical characteristics.

### Hurricane Karl

 Duration
 Peak intensity

*Main article: Hurricane Karl (1998)*
Hurricane Karl was one of four hurricanes in existence over the Atlantic basin at one time. It remained over water without any direct effects to land.

### Hurricane Lisa

 Duration
 Peak intensity

*Main article: Hurricane Lisa (1998)*
Lisa briefly reached hurricane force in the central North Atlantic Ocean and did not affect land.

### Hurricane Mitch

 Duration
 Peak intensity

*Main article: Hurricane Mitch*
Mitch is responsible for over nine thousand deaths predominately from rain-induced flooding in portions of Central America, mainly in Honduras and Nicaragua. This makes Mitch one of the deadliest Atlantic tropical cyclones in history, ranking only below the 1780 “Great Hurricane” in the Lesser Antilles, and comparable to the Galveston hurricane of 1900, and Hurricane Fifi of 1974, which primarily affected Honduras.

### Hurricane Nicole

 Duration
 Peak intensity

*Main article: Hurricane Nicole (1998)*
Late season Hurricane Nicole was a tenacious tropical cyclone that persisted for several days over the northeast Atlantic.

## Storm names

* Bonnie
* Charley
* Danielle
* Earl
* Frances
* Georges
* Ivan
* Jeanne
* Karl
* Lisa
* Mitch
* Nicole
* Paula *(unused)*
* Richard *(unused)*
* Shary *(unused)*
* Tomas *(unused)*
* Virginie *(unused)*
* Walter *(unused)*

### Retirement

In Spring 1999, it was announced the World Meteorological Organization had retired the names, Georges and Mitch, for the damage and deaths caused by the storms. They were replaced by Gaston and Matthew for the 2004 Atlantic hurricane season.

## References

1. ↑ http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL011998\_Alex.pdf
2. ↑ http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL021998\_Bonnie.pdf
3. ↑ http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL041998\_Danielle.pdf
4. ↑ http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL051998\_Earl.pdf
5. ↑ http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL061998\_Frances.pdf
6. ↑ http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL071998\_Georges.pdf
7. ↑ http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL101998\_Jeanne.pdf
8. ↑ http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL111998\_Karl.pdf
9. ↑ http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL121998\_Lisa.pdf
10. ↑ http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL131998\_Mitch.pdf
11. ↑ http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL141998\_Nicole.pdf