Hurricane Bonnie 1998!


Thursday & Friday, August 27th & 28th, 1998:

Wednesday was a day of heightened weather interest as Hurricane Bonnie neared the SE NC coast coming ashore near Cape Fear in the afternoon with wind gusts near 100 MPH. Considerable damage occurred as the storm pummeled the NC coast. The storm slowed down during the late afternoon and evening becoming stationary at one point.

On WED evening there was no sign of impending severe weather for SE VA/NE NC. However, that was to change drastically come Thursday evening.

Wednesday saw a warm, partly cloudy, muggy day here with a new maximum low temperature station record set with a 78.3° reading. Temps peaked in the upper 80s while humidity levels ranged from 68 to 83% creating high heat indices. Some high clouds from Bonnie moved across SE VA on their way inland.

Thursday saw Hurricane Bonnie continuing high winds across E NC although the storm diminished to a minimal hurricane re: wind speeds. Bonnie was eventually downgraded to a tropical storm as it headed slowly towards the NE along the NC coast and just inland.

By mid-afternoon winds began to pick-up over SE VA and showers moved into the region from bands heading due west from the Atlantic on the northern edge of Bonnie. Winds picked-up as did the rainshowers associated with Bonnie with downpours from squall lines moving over most of Hampton Roads particularly over the N sections of Norfolk and Virginia Beach. A 90 MPH wind gust was recorded at Cape Henry Light Station with repetitive 60 MPH wind gusts over much of SE VA. The wind peaked at NNE 63 MPH here in the SE section of Portsmouth at 10:22 PM. Rainfall for the day totaled 1.98" and the storm total through FRI AM was 2.44". The barometer dropped to 29.526" as Bonnie moved to about Nags Head as it pulled slowly northeast away from the coast when it regenerated into a minimal hurricane continuing slowly seaward.

Bonnie actually became near stationary as it pulled SE of SE VA. This contributed to persistent winds gusts from 40 MPH to 60+ MPH during the late afternoon and evening until near midnight. Tremendous wind damage, flooding, and great numbers of power outages were recorded across the area. Power surges occured at this site on 6 occasions with the power coming back on within seconds. However, as many as a million Virginians- most in Hampton Roads - were without power for much of THU night into FRI morning.

Early FRI winds and rain gradually tapered.

The balance of Friday was partly cloudy, hazy, very warm, and extremely humid what with the 2.44" of rain which fell over the previous 36 hours. As surface moisture evaporated back into the atmosphere, dew point levels were sky high.


Hurricane Bonnie SE VA Observations Plot
Hurricane Bonnie - SE VA Graphic
Hurricane Bonnie Full-Atlantic Track

Here are the hourly obs at taken from the day before, day of, and day after Bonnie: [file extends beyond right margin; height of storm when greatest damage occured is highlighted in red]


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 TH     Temp  Wind      Hi      Low    Hum      Dew     Wind                                    
 Date     Time   Index   Out  Chill     Temp    Temp   Out      Pt.     Speed   Hi    Dir          Rain Bar     
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 8/26/9812:00a	83.4	79.9	79.9	80.1	79.7	72	70.1	0.0	6.0	S	   0.00	29.929
 8/26/98 1:00a	83.8	79.5	79.5	79.8	79.1	74	70.5	0.0	5.0	NE	   0.00	29.907
 8/26/98 2:00a	82.4	79.0	79.0	79.1	78.9	77	71.2	0.0	6.0	NE	   0.00	29.872	
 8/26/98 3:00a	82.8	78.7	78.7	78.9	78.6	79	71.6	0.0	6.0	NNE	   0.00	29.851
 8/26/98 4:00a	83.2	78.5	78.5	78.6	78.4	81	72.2	4.0	7.0	NNE	   0.00	29.847
 8/26/98 5:00a	82.1	78.4	78.4	78.4	78.3	81	72.1	0.0	7.0	NNE	   0.00	29.828	
 8/26/98 6:00a	83.2	78.7	78.7	78.9	78.4	81	72.4	4.0	10.0	NNE	   0.00	29.834	
 8/26/98 7:00a	83.4	78.7	78.7	78.9	78.5	82	72.7	0.0	5.0	NNE	   0.00	29.847	
 8/26/98 8:00a	85.4	79.6	--	80.4	78.9	82	73.6	0.0	6.0	N	   0.00	29.869
 8/26/98 9:00a	89.0	81.5	81.5	82.3	80.4	80	74.7	4.0	7.0	NE	   0.00	29.892	
 8/26/9810:00a	90.2	83.1	83.1	84.4	82.2	76	74.8	4.0	7.0	NNE	   0.00	29.902	
 8/26/9811:00a	95.4	84.5	84.5	85.0	84.2	76	76.1	4.0	11.0	NE	   0.00	29.915
 8/26/9812:00p	96.6	85.8	85.8	86.6	85.0	74	76.6	4.0	10.0	NE	   0.00	29.901
 8/26/98 1:00p	98.2	87.7	87.7	88.7	86.4	68	75.8	4.0	7.0	SSE	   0.00	29.884	
 8/26/98 2:00p	99.0	87.5	87.5	88.1	87.1	70	76.5	4.0	10.0	ESE	   0.00	29.892
 8/26/98 3:00p	99.0	87.6	87.6	87.8	87.3	70	76.6	5.0	12.0	SSE	   0.00	29.852
 8/26/98 4:00p	97.5	86.7	86.7	87.3	85.6	71	76.2	5.0	10.0	SE	   0.00	29.824	
 8/26/98 5:00p	95.0	84.7	84.7	85.6	84.2	75	75.9	4.0	14.0	E	   0.00	29.840
 8/26/98 6:00p	93.1	83.5	83.5	84.2	82.7	77	75.5	4.0	10.0	ENE	   0.00	29.835
 8/26/98 7:00p	90.4	82.6	82.6	82.8	82.4	77	74.7	6.0	20.0	NE	   0.00	29.809
 8/26/98 8:00p	88.8	82.0	--	82.5	81.7	79	74.8	10.0	21.0	NE	   0.00	29.796	
 8/26/98 9:00p	88.8	81.5	81.5	81.7	81.4	79	74.4	6.0	15.0	NE	   0.00	29.808	
 8/26/9810:00p	88.4	81.7	81.7	81.9	81.5	77	73.8	5.0	16.0	NE	   0.00	29.808
 8/26/9811:00p	88.6	81.5	81.5	81.7	81.2	78	74.0	5.0	13.0	NE	   0.00	29.795

 8/27/9812:00a	86.6	81.3	81.3	81.5	81.0	78	73.8	5.0	15.0	NE	   0.00	29.785
 8/27/98 1:00a	88.4	81.5	81.5	81.6	81.2	77	73.6	5.0	15.0	NE	   0.00	29.779	
 8/27/98 2:00a	86.8	81.0	81.0	81.2	80.7	79	73.9	5.0	12.0	SE	   0.00	29.747	
 8/27/98 3:00a	86.6	81.1	81.1	81.2	80.9	78	73.6	5.0	12.0	ENE	   0.00	29.745
 8/27/98 4:00a	86.6	80.9	80.9	81.1	80.7	78	73.4	5.0	14.0	ENE	   0.00	29.743
 8/27/98 5:00a	86.6	80.9	--	81.1	80.7	78	73.4	5.0	15.0	ENE	   0.00	29.734	
 8/27/98 6:00a	85.0	80.3	80.3	80.8	79.9	80	73.6	12.0	20.0	NE	   0.01	29.745
 8/27/98 7:00a	86.8	80.8	80.8	81.0	80.4	79	73.7	13.0	21.0	NE	   0.00	29.756
 8/27/98 8:00a	86.6	80.9	80.9	81.0	80.8	78	73.4	13.0	24.0	NE	   0.00	29.764
 8/27/98 9:00a	86.4	81.2	81.2	81.3	80.9	77	73.3	12.0	21.0	SSE	   0.00	29.755	
 8/27/9810:00a	88.2	81.5	81.5	81.7	81.2	76	73.2	13.0	24.0	SSE	   0.00	29.757
 8/27/9811:00a	87.4	81.1	81.1	81.6	79.9	82	75.1	13.0	32.0	SSE	   0.03	29.756	
 8/27/9812:00p	85.0	80.3	80.3	80.8	79.8	80	73.6	13.0	26.0	ENE	   0.00	29.738	
 8/27/98 1:00p	88.0	80.7	80.7	81.0	79.8	85	75.8	13.0	27.0	NE	   0.02	29.712
 8/27/98 2:00p	84.8	78.9	78.9	79.8	77.4	89	75.4	14.0	24.0	NE	   0.20	29.715

 8/27/98 3:00p	81.0	76.7	75.4	77.4	76.1	90	73.5	16.0	40.0	NE	   0.09	29.675
 8/27/98 4:00p	80.0	75.9	75.1	76.4	75.7	92	73.4	15.0	40.0	NE	   0.13	29.617
 8/27/98 5:00p	81.3	76.5	74.6	76.7	76.2	93	74.3	17.0	41.0	NE	   0.07	29.604	
 8/27/98 6:00p	80.0	76.1	73.6	76.3	75.6	94	74.3	18.0	50.0	NE	   0.32	29.572	
 8/27/98 7:00p	80.0	75.7	--	76.1	75.5	96	74.5	20.0	54.0	NE	   0.11	29.541
 8/27/98 8:00p	80.0	75.8	73.2	76.1	75.5	95	74.3	18.0	47.0	NE	   0.11	29.526	
 8/27/98 9:00p	80.0	75.5	72.3	75.7	75.1	95	74.0	19.0	55.0	NE	   0.20	29.547
 8/27/9810:00p	78.5	74.8	70.5	75.3	74.2	95	73.3	21.0	60.0	NE	   0.25	29.567	
 8/27/9811:00p	78.6	75.1	71.8	75.4	74.3	96	73.9	19.0	63.0	ENE	   0.25	29.563

 8/28/9812:00a	77.0	73.7	--	75.4	72.3	95	72.2	17.0	36.0	N	   0.19	29.631
 8/28/98 1:00a	76.8	74.2	70.7	74.7	73.2	94	72.4	9.0	28.0	N	   0.12	29.635
 8/28/98 2:00a	74.8	72.2	67.6	73.3	71.7	94	70.4	10.0	26.0	N	   0.10	29.654
 8/28/98 3:00a	74.0	71.8	66.7	72.0	71.5	90	68.7	11.0	35.0	N	   0.08	29.643
 8/28/98 4:00a	74.6	72.3	67.4	72.7	71.8	93	70.2	11.0	34.0	NNE	   0.06	29.659
 8/28/98 5:00a	74.6	71.9	67.9	72.4	71.6	93	69.8	9.0	28.0	N	   0.00	29.671
 8/28/98 6:00a	75.6	72.5	68.7	73.0	71.7	93	70.4	9.0	24.0	N	   0.00	29.706	
 8/28/98 7:00a	74.4	72.4	69.2	72.8	72.1	92	69.9	8.0	22.0	N	   0.00	29.721
 8/28/98 8:00a	76.2	73.7	72.1	74.3	72.7	91	70.9	9.0	23.0	N	   0.00	29.728	
 8/28/98 9:00a	78.4	74.7	73.2	75.2	74.2	94	72.9	9.0	25.0	N	   0.10	29.760	
 8/28/9810:00a	81.0	76.5	74.6	77.3	75.2	88	72.7	12.0	26.0	N	   0.00	29.772	
 8/28/9811:00a	82.5	77.5	76.2	77.7	77.1	85	72.6	11.0	25.0	N	   0.00	29.813	
 8/28/9812:00p	81.0	77.1	75.8	78.0	76.7	85	72.2	11.0	25.0	N	   0.00	29.826	
 8/28/98 1:00p	84.8	79.8	77.9	80.5	78.0	79	72.7	13.0	27.0	N	   0.00	29.835
 8/28/98 2:00p	86.0	81.2	80.6	82.4	80.4	75	72.5	10.0	23.0	N	   0.00	29.840	
 8/28/98 3:00p	91.0	83.5	82.8	84.1	82.4	70	72.7	11.0	21.0	N	   0.00	29.840	
 8/28/98 4:00p	90.6	84.4	84.4	85.6	83.9	69	73.1	6.0	16.0	N	   0.00	29.840
 8/28/98 5:00p	96.2	87.0	86.0	87.4	86.7	68	73.9	6.0	16.0	N	   0.00	29.851	
 8/28/98 6:00p	92.2	85.4	85.4	85.9	84.8	68	73.6	6.0	16.0	N	   0.00	29.865	
 8/28/98 7:00p	93.0	84.6	84.6	84.8	84.4	70	73.7	4.0	10.0	NNE	   0.00	29.861
 8/28/98 8:00p	90.2	83.4	83.4	84.5	82.1	76	75.0	0.0	4.0	NNE	   0.00	29.874
 8/28/98 9:00p	87.0	81.1	81.1	82.2	80.2	80	74.3	0.0	4.0	N	   0.00	29.876
 8/28/9810:00p	85.6	79.7	79.7	80.3	79.2	83	74.1	0.0	6.0	NNE	   0.00	29.885
 8/28/9811:00p	83.8	79.1	79.1	79.4	78.7	84	73.9	0.0	5.0	NE	   0.00	29.888


Thursday, August 27th, 1998:


High temp was 81.7° , 6° below normal and occuring at 10:00 AM
Low temp was 72.3°, 4° above normal and occurring at 11:59 PM
Mean temp was 77.0°, which was 1° below normal

Heating degree days = 0.0
Cooling degree days = 12.0

Daily rainfall = 1.98"

Highest relative humidity = 96% at 11:00 PM
Lowest relative humidity = 76% at 10:00 AM

Barometer:

Maximum 29.785" at 12:01 AM

Minimum 29.526" 8:00 PM

Max wind gust was NNE 63 MPHoccuring at 10:22 PM.




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