HURRICANE SEASON OF 1998 IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC

«BONNIE»

August 19^th – 30^th

It originated within a strong tropical wave coming from Africa some 1200 km East of the Lesser Antilles in the afternoon of the 19^th. With a general motion between West and West-northwest it kept gaining strength and organization to score as the second tropical storm in the afternoon of the 20^th, when it was close East of the northern group of the Lesser Antilles. It turned into a hurricane in the early hours of the 22^nd, to the East and close to the meridional Bahamas. From that moment on, it turned its trajectory further to the Northeast decreasing its speed of motion to remain moving very slowly to the North-northwest since the evening of the 22^nd to that of the 24^th. On the evening of the 23^rd its maximum winds reached 185 km/h and the central pressure descended until 954 hPa, so it was rated as a hurricane of category 3 in the Saffir-Simpson scale. It kept this range until late in the afternoon of the 26^th when it entered the North American continent through the coast of North Carolina. Bonnie moved along the coasts of the Carolinas losing intensity and was degraded to tropical storm in the morning of the 27^th. It came out to sea again near Cape Hatteras, becoming a minimum intensity hurricane on the daybreak of the 28^th until the afternoon of that day when it becomes a tropical storm again. Bonnie returned to the coasts of the United States and then moved towards the Northeast bending to the East-northeast from the 30^th on when, it moved over cold waters that made it gradually loose its tropical characteristics.

This hurricane characterized by showing a wide circulation pattern since its origin.

Bonnie caused three deaths in the U. S. and damages of about 720 millions of dollars.

Hurricane Bonnie, August 24, 1998 (02:45 UTC)

«CHARLEY»