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Storms That Hit

NHC AL051998 · Atlantic basin

Hurricane Earl (1998)

August 31, 1998 – September 8, 1998

Data: NOAA NHC HURDAT2 and NOAA SPC tornado and hail reports, through 2025 · Updated

Hurricane Earl peaked at Category 2 with 98 mph sustained winds and passed within 75 miles of 649 US cities, 33 of them while still at hurricane strength.

Earl in the record

HURDAT2 tracks Earl from August 31, 1998 to September 8, 1998; its peak was 98 mph (Category 2). HURDAT2 marks a landfall within 50 miles of a US city on this site: on September 3 at 81 mph (Category 1), 8 miles from Panama City, FL. Its centre passed within 75 miles of 649 US cities, in 6 states, most in North Carolina (231) and Georgia (159). The strongest pass was 86 mph (Category 1) 61 miles from Navarre, FL; the centre came closest to Farmville, NC, less than a mile away.

Peak strength
Category 2

98 mph

Cities within 75 mi
649
At hurricane strength
33

when closest

States
6
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Cities Earl passed near, strongest first

Florida (54)

Alabama (20)

Georgia (159)

and 99 more

North Carolina (231)

and 171 more

Virginia (27)

South Carolina (158)

and 98 more

Other storms of the 1998 season

All hurricanes and tropical storms →

About this record

The track is the National Hurricane Center's best-track record, revised after the season with every observation available. Strength at a city is the sustained wind on the track at the closest point, not the wind that city measured.