Hurricane Bonnie was a tropical cyclone that made landfall in North Carolina, inflicting severe crop damage.

A large and powerful cyclone, Bonnie moved ashore in North Carolina early on August 27, slowing as it turned northeast.

After briefly losing hurricane status, the storm moved offshore and regained Category 1-force winds, although it weakened again on entering cooler waters.

Fearing a major hurricane strike, coastal locations from Florida to Virginia performed extensive preparations in advance of the storm.

Hurricane Bonnie made landfall as a borderline Category 2–Category 3 storm, with intense wind gusts of up to 104 mph (167 km/h) and rainfall peaking at about 11 in (280 mm).

In coastal North Carolina, the storm washed ashore tens of thousands of tires that had been part of an artificial reef.

On August 14, 1998, a tropical wave emerged off the west coast of Africa just north of Dakar and moved westward across the Atlantic Ocean.

Despite being poorly organized, winds slightly to the north of the system's center approached tropical storm strength shortly thereafter.

[3] Deep convection slowly developed closer to the center,[4] and at 1200 UTC on August 20, the depression was upgraded into Tropical Storm Bonnie as it continued its west-northwest track around the periphery of a high pressure system over the Leeward Islands.

[8] Later that day, storm was upgraded to a Category 2 on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale, which occurred with a substantial 15 mb drop in 8 hours.

At the same time, steering currents weakened with the dissipation of the high pressure system; this, combined with the effect of a nearby trough, caused the storm to turn in a more north-northwestward direction around the western periphery of an anticyclone to the east.

Another inhibiting factor may have been related to the same trough that caused the northward turn, though due to a large anticyclone situated over the hurricane, the weakening effects were not substantial.

[12] Early on August 25, the shear and the entrainment of drier air into the hurricane took its toll on Bonnie, giving it a ragged appearance on satellite imagery, and the eye briefly became cloud-filled.

[14] An approaching mid-level trough steered Bonnie north-northeast, and at 2100 UTC on August 26, the eye passed east of Cape Fear, North Carolina.

[15] However, as the storm turned towards the east in response to the approaching trough, the center neared open waters and the winds began to re-intensify.

[1] On August 20, a tropical storm watch was posted for the islands of Antigua, Barbuda, Anguilla, St. Maarten, Saba and St. Eustatius, though it was discontinued the next day.

Tropical storm warnings and hurricane watches were put into effect for the Turks and Caicos Islands and the southeastern Bahamas.

Heavy surf advisories were posted from central portions of the state northward to Georgia, and the National Hurricane Center advised that swimming and boating should be avoided.

[30] About 815 guardsmen were called to North Carolina, where they assisted local authorities with the extensive preparations, including evacuating 750,000 state citizens.

[27] Active duty armed forces were set to support hurricane recovery missions, and four Defense Coordinating officers were notified.

[42] The high winds blew down several trees in Charleston County,[43] and tore the roof off a strip mall in North Myrtle Beach.

At North Topsail Beach, many of the protective dunes constructed after Hurricane Fran in 1996 were destroyed, and along the Bogue Banks, tens of thousands of tires, part of an artificial reef, were washed ashore.

[46] One direct death occurred in North Carolina; a young girl was killed when a tree fell on her Currituck County home.

[50] Forty-seven of those who failed to evacuate in time sought shelter in the Bald Head Island lighthouse as the worst of the storm bore down.

Numerous homes suffered damage in the Hampton Roads area, and near Virginia Beach, winds blew windows out in hotels.

[59] As the storm moved offshore, outer rain bands affected the Maryland coast with gusts of up to 42 mph (68 km/h) at Ocean City, and waves of 10 ft (3.0 m).

[1] Along the coast of New Jersey, Bonnie produced strong waves and rip currents, resulting in hundreds of water rescues and eight injuries.

[63] Bonnie moved well to the south of Cape Cod, although a significant outer rain band affected southern Plymouth County, Massachusetts.

[64][65] On the afternoon of August 29, Bonnie entered the Canadian Hurricane Centre's area of responsibility as a tropical storm, and passed south of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland.

When examined with Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite imagery, it was discovered that peak cloud tops surrounding the eyewall rose 59,000 ft (18,000 m) into the atmosphere, twice as tall as Mount Everest.