Tropical Storm Charley (1998)

Basin

North Atlantic

Dates

August 21, 1998 to August 24, 1998

Peak strength

Tropical Storm, 60 kt (69 mph)

Lowest pressure

1000 mb (29.53 inHg)

Landfall

Yes

Accumulated cyclone energy

0.8

Fastest the center moved

15 kt (17 mph)

Identifier

AL031998

Radar at KCRP as it neared land, Aug 22, 10:00 UTC

The sources count different things and are not added together.

Landfall points the US agencies flagged in the best track. The nearest town is named from the site’s gazetteer, not from the report.

NOAA’s Storm Events database, the record National Weather Service offices compile months after a storm, as compiled March 2026.

Deaths

4 (4 direct, 0 indirect)

Injuries

0

Property damage

$1.4 million

Crop damage

$385,000

Events recorded

40 in 10 reports from 2 states and marine areas

State by state

What was recorded

31 flash flood, 8 tropical storm, 1 thunderstorm wind.

The Weather Prediction Center attributes 556 rain gauge totals over the contiguous United States to this storm. The wettest reached 19.05 inches (484 mm).

WPC’s storm rainfall file, 1900 to 2020, compiled by David Roth.

From the Storm Events narratives, unedited.

Torrential tropical downpours from the remnants of Tropical Storm Charley in the early morning hours caused flash flooding along State Highway 349 between Iraan and Sheffield. Just south of Iraan fast moving waters swept pavement away from this highway and farther south water was flowing over a bridge. The highway was reopened in a limited fashion later that night, but crews continued highway repairs for the next week. Unconfirmed reports of 7 inches of rain were received from citizens of Sheffield.These rains and rains in Crockett County combined to cause flooding on the Pecos River. At Sheffield the river rose to 4 feet above Flood Stage.

Pecos, Texas · Flash Flood · Aug 25, 16:30 UTC

Rainfall totals of up to 11 inches flooded most of the roads across Sutton County, including Farm Roads 1989, 1691, and 2596. The worst of the flooding was in Sonora, where rises along the Dry Devils River and Lowery Draw forced evacuations through the heart of the town.

Sutton, Texas · Flash Flood · Aug 25, 17:00 UTC

• Tropical Storm AlexNorth Atlantic · 1998Tropical Storm45 kt · 1002 mb
• Hurricane BonnieNorth Atlantic · 1998Cat 3100 kt · 954 mb
• Hurricane DanielleNorth Atlantic · 1998Cat 290 kt · 960 mb
• Hurricane EarlNorth Atlantic · 1998Cat 285 kt · 964 mb
• Tropical Storm FrancesNorth Atlantic · 1998Tropical Storm55 kt · 990 mb
• Hurricane GeorgesNorth Atlantic · 1998 · 827 deathsCat 4135 kt · 937 mb
• Tropical Storm HermineNorth Atlantic · 1998Tropical Storm40 kt · 999 mb
• Hurricane IvanNorth Atlantic · 1998Cat 180 kt · 975 mb
• Hurricane JeanneNorth Atlantic · 1998Cat 290 kt · 969 mb
• Hurricane KarlNorth Atlantic · 1998Cat 290 kt · 970 mb
• Hurricane LisaNorth Atlantic · 1998Cat 165 kt · 995 mb
• Hurricane MitchNorth Atlantic · 1998 · 19,325 deathsCat 5155 kt · 905 mb
• Hurricane NicoleNorth Atlantic · 1998Cat 175 kt · 979 mb

A best track is the record a warning agency settles on after the storm, not what it said at the time: position, maximum sustained wind and central pressure every six hours, revised against every observation that came in later. Category is the Saffir-Simpson scale, which runs from Category 1 at 64 kt to Category 5 at 137 kt and reads wind only, so it says nothing about surge or rain. Accumulated cyclone energy adds up the square of the wind through the storm's life, so it counts strength and duration together.

Storm history from NOAA NCEI’s International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS), which merges the official best track of every warning agency. Live storms, cones, watches and warnings from the National Hurricane Center and the Central Pacific Hurricane Center. Archived radar from NOAA’s Level II archive.

• Tropical cyclone report, National Hurricane Center
• Wikipedia article: Tropical Storm Charley