NOTE TO EDITORS: Following is a summary of the major weather and climate events of 1998 and several 1998 National Weather Service highlights that you may want to develop in your end-of-the-year reporting. Please contact John Leslie, NOAA/NWS Public Affairs at (301) 713-0622 or Stephanie Kenitzer at (301) 763-8000 ext. 7007 should you need assistance in developing these stories:
1998 -- A Wet, Warm and Wild Year: From the powerful El Niño, to the ice storms that froze states to the north and searing heat that scorched states to the south, to floods that swallowed parts of America's heartland, to the horrific might of Hurricane Mitch, 1998 will go down in the annals of weather history as one of the wildest weather years in recent times. Following is a summary of the some of the major weather and climate events of 1998.
United States Weather and Climate Summary
The United States was wet and warm in 1998. Based on preliminary January-November data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 1998 was the wettest year since 1973 and the second wettest year since 1895, when detailed records began. The ranking for wetness was remarkable given the severe drought that extended from the southern Plains to Florida during the spring and summer.
Depending on temperatures during December, 1998 could end up being the warmest year on record. Heat was persistent and widespread during the year, with the country observing its second warmest winter on record, twenty-eighth warmest spring, ninth warmest summer, and second warmest autumn. Among the contiguous 48 states, only California was cooler than normal, thanks in part to an especially cool spring.
The greatest number of tropical
storms to strike the country since 1985 caused an estimated $6.5
billion in damages, but helped to relieve drought in the South.
Though the abnormal weather contributed to a 28 percent drop
in the nation's cotton crop and 21 percent drop in the orange
crop compared with 1997, adequate rainfall and lack of sustained
heat in the Corn Belt resulted in record soybean production and
the second greatest corn output. Aided by El Niño-enhanced
rains, the nation harvested its largest wheat crop since 1990,
according to U.S. Department of Agriculture.
El Niño-related storms, floods, and tornadoes during winter-spring 1998 in the Southeast caused over $1 billion in damages and 132 deaths. Florida, where winter rainfall (December - February) averaged 19 inches or 220 percent of normal, recorded both its wettest winter and wettest November-March period ever. Florida also endured its deadliest tornado outbreak on record when storms on the night of Feb. 22 killed 41 people in the Kissimmee area (Source: National Weather Service [NWS]/Storm Prediction Center [SPC]), and destroyed 800 residences (Source: NCDC).
El Niño-related Hawaii drought from autumn of 1997 to May of 1998 resulted in water restrictions in several areas and diminished reservoir supplies. As of mid-June, Honolulu had measured only 1.76 inches of rain since January 1, just 16 percent of normal.
The 1997-98 El Niño was
the first time that scientists around the world were able to
observe a major climate event from beginning to end, and issue
valuable forecasts to help mitigate the potential impacts. The
NWS issued predictions for the winter 1997-98 that allowed emergency
managers, businesses, communities and individuals to take steps
Wet, Stormy Spring. A wet, stormy
spring with numerous severe weather outbreaks broke rainfall
records in the Midwest and Northeast and damaged crops in California.
The West had its wettest May-June ever, and April-June was the
wettest such period since at least 1895 in Rhode Island and Massachusetts;
the third wettest in Tennessee; and the fourth wettest in Iowa.
Atlantic, Iowa, set a state record for daily precipitation, measuring
13.18 inches of rain on
Severe Tornado Outbreaks. Severe
storms were rampant in spring, with a tornado outbreak taking
34 lives in Alabama on April 8. On May 30, a tornado destroyed
Spencer, South Dakota, and claimed 6 lives. According to the
NWS, the nation recorded 333 tornadoes (but only three deaths)
in June, about 150 more than average and the second highest June
total in 49 years of record (Source: SPC).
Although severe weather diminished after June, the preliminary
national death toll from tornadoes during all of 1998 reached
129, about twice the number recorded in 1997 and three times
the average. By early December, an estimated 1255 tornadoes had
occurred across the U.S., with five of those being F4-F5 intensity.
Summer Heat Wave and Drought. Spring and summer heat and drought caused massive wildfire outbreaks in Florida and damage to crops from the southern Plains to the Southeast. April-June was the driest such period in 104 years of record in Florida, Texas, Louisiana, and New Mexico. May-June was the warmest such period on record in Florida, Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas. The total drought and heat costs exceeded an estimated $6 billion in damage/costs and resulted in at least 200 deaths (Source: NCDC).
Summer-autumn drought from the
mid-Atlantic to Tennessee Valley caused crop losses, increased
wildfire risk, and threatened water supplies. July-November rainfall
was the lowest since 1930 in Washington, D.C., and Baltimore.
In addition, Tennessee, Maryland, and Virginia posted their second,
third, and fourth driest autumns in 104 years of record, respectively.
Hurricane Bonnie struck the North Carolina coast on Aug. 26, killing three; cutting off power to nearly a half-million people; and causing $720 million dollars in damage. Earl hit the Florida Panhandle on Sept. 3, causing $79 million in damage. Hurricane Georges caused $5.1 billion in damage, much of it in Puerto Rico on Sept. 21-22, where it damaged or destroyed more than 170,000 homes before crossing the Florida Keys and striking the U.S. Gulf Coast near Biloxi, Mississippi on Sept. 27 (Source: Federal Emergency Management Agency). Up to 20 inches of rain deluged Puerto Rico as well as northwest Florida and southeastern Alabama. Hurricane Mitch, which caused an estimated 9,000 deaths in Central America, crossed southern Florida as a tropical storm on Nov. 4-5, bringing tornadoes, heavy rains, and flooding.
Throughout the season, NOAA scientists, working with NASA and university collaborators, conducted the most complete and sophisticated campaign of observations in hurricanes ever. This investment in technology and research continues to provide better hurricane predictions.
Flooding throughout Texas and other areas. Tropical Storms Charley and Frances, along with several other wet weather systems, brought heavy rains to Texas from August to November, ending drought over much of the state, but causing at least 42 deaths from several rounds of severe flooding. Tropical Storm Charley caused 9 deaths in Texas. Del Rio, Texas, recorded its wettest day ever on August 23 with 17.03 inches of rain from Charley's remains. During the previous 8 1/2 months, Del Rio had measured just 2.89 inches. Frances made landfall on the Texas coast on September 11, bringing a five-foot storm surge and over two feet of rain. Another weather system brought over a foot of rain to southeast Texas on Oct. 17-18, causing major flooding and at least 29 deaths. Raging floodwaters swept away or destroyed dozens of homes. San Antonio tallied 18.07 inches of rain in October, its wettest month ever, including 11.26 inches on Oct. 17, the city's wettest day ever. More than 10 inches of rain on south-central Kansas during Oct. 30 - Nov. 1 caused thousands of residents to seek shelter.
Early Winter Storms This Fall. One of the most intense November storms on record crossed the Great Plains on Nov. 9-10, setting all-time low pressure readings in Iowa and Minnesota. The "super storm" caused 90 mph wind gusts in Wisconsin, over a foot of snow in the northern Plains, and 20-foot waves on Lake Michigan.
Late Fall "Heat Wave." An unprecedented autumn "heat wave" from mid-November to early December broke or tied over 700 daily-high temperature records from the Rockies to the East Coast. More than 70 monthly temperature records were set in the first eight days of December alone, as temperatures rose into the 70s as far north as South Dakota and Maine.
Signs of La Niña. A series of Pacific storms slammed into the Northwest during November and early December, hurling 100-mph winds at the coast, knocking roofs off of buildings and cutting power to thousands of people. Heavy rains triggered floods in Washington and Oregon. Seattle, Washington set a November record with 11.62 inches of rain.
2. Goodbye El Niño -- Hello La Niña: The 1997-98 El Niño was the first time that scientists around the world were able to observe a major climate event from beginning to end, and issue valuable forecasts to help mitigate the potential impacts. The NWS' Climate Prediction Center issued predictions for the winter 1997-98 that allowed emergency managers, businesses, communities and individuals to take steps to prepare.
This winter we will not see another El Niño but another climate phase called La Niña. La Niña tends to bring nearly opposite effects of El Niño to the United States wetter than normal conditions across the Pacific Northwest and drier and warmer than normal conditions across much of the southern tier of the country. The Climate Prediction Center forecasts indicate the cold episode (La Niña) will likely continue through the northern 1998-99 winter.
3. New NWS Leader Envisions America's "No Surprise" Weather Service: John J. Kelly, Jr. became director of the National Weather Service in February 1998. Under his leadership the National Weather Service has adopted a vision to be America's "no-surprise" weather service. Under Kelly's leadership, the NWS strives to be "a world class team of professionals who produce and deliver quality forecasts you can trust when you need them most; use cutting edge techniques; provide services in a cost effective manner; strive to eliminate weather-related fatalities and improve the economic value of weather information."
4. Interactive Computer Systems
Multiply the Benefits of Modernized Weather Services: In April
1998, Commerce Secretary William M. Daley approved the NWS' plan
for a full production and installation of interactive weather
computer and communications systems that will help provide better
weather- and flood-related services to protect life and property.
In total, 152 Advanced Weather Interactive Processing Systems
(AWIPS) will be installed nationwide by the end of FY 1999. AWIPS
will help NWS forecasters take full advantage of the many modern
technologies that the NWS has added during its decade-long modernization
8. NWS Is the Primary Source of Weather Data: The data used to produce the slick TV weather graphics that you see on the evening news most likely originated with the NWS that day. NWS data and products form a national information database and infrastructure which can be used by other governmental agencies, the private sector, the public, and the global community. Taxpayers provide more than a billion dollars a year to maintain the NWS' newly modernized infrastructure of weather satellites, radars, and supercomputers that benefit us all with more accurate weather and climate forecasts and warnings.
9. EMWIN is a Win-Win: The NWS
and emergency managers continue to strengthen their partnership
to help protect lives and property faced by the threat of severe
weather. One example of this alliance is the Emergency Managers
Weather Information Network (EMWIN),
a system that transmits live weather information to computers
across the U.S., the Caribbean and over most of the Pacific Ocean.
More than ever, the EMWIN system gives emergency managers the
capability to respond faster to severe weather and other natural
threats. Recently, EMWIN received frequency certification and
will be allowed to operate on 163.35 MHZ at 175 watts in Silver
Spring, Md. Additionally, EMWIN also received a national frequency
of 163 and 163.35 MHZ at 100 watts to operate throughout the
United States and its possessions. (EMWIN
1998 PRESS RELEASES || NOAA HOME PAGE || BACKGROUNDERS