Hurricane Madeline was a costly tropical cyclone whose remnants caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage in Texas in October 1998.

The storm reached peak winds of 85 mph (137 km/h) about 95 miles (153 km) southwest of San Blas, Nayarit, and after 18 hours it subsequently began to weaken.

On September 25, 1998, a tropical wave emerged off the coast of Africa, producing intermittent concentrated clusters of convective activity.

After four days, the system regenerated and under diffluent flow aloft, deep convection became more concentrated;[1] it is estimated that a tropical depression formed at 0000 UTC on October 16, about 230 mi (370 km) west-southwest of Manzanillo, Mexico.

[2] Initially, due to disorganization, determining the forward movement of depression was difficult,[3] although a few hours later it was estimated that the system was tracking to the north-northwest.

[4] With favorable conditions aloft, the deep convection became more concentrated, and 12 hours after first developing, the depression intensified into Tropical Storm Madeline about 170 miles (270 km) southwest of Cabo Corrientes.

[2] With evidence of southern wind shear, only a small area of deep thunderstorm activity existed on October 19, and the system began to appear ill-defined of satellite imagery.

[11] On October 19, the storm was downgraded to a tropical depression, leaving just a swirl of low clouds midway between the southern tip of Baja California and mainland Mexico.

President Ernesto Zedillo advised potentially affected residents to stay indoors or seek refuge in shelters.

This included the area of Lockhart, Texas, which was badly flooded by the storm due to its close proximity to the San Marcos River.

Then-president Bill Clinton promised aid to the victims of the storm and then-governor George W. Bush took a tour of the devastated region with the Federal Emergency Management Agency director.