Hurricane Madeline was a costly tropical cyclone whose remnants caused hundreds of millions of dollars in damage in Texas in October 1998. The final tropical cyclone of the 1998 Pacific hurricane season, Madeline originated from a tropical wave that emerged off the coast of Africa on September 25, 1998. The wave traversed the Atlantic Ocean and crossed over Central America on October 5 or 6. Gradually, the system intensified and was classified as a tropical depression on October 16, a tropical storm later that day, and a hurricane on October 17. The storm reached peak winds of about southwest of San Blas, Nayarit, and after 18 hours it subsequently began to weaken. Although Madeline never made landfall, numerous rainbands affected the Mexican coast causing no known damage or fatalities. The remnant moisture moved north and contributed to flooding in central Texas, which killed 31 people and caused $750 million (1998 USD; $ USD) in damage. Meteorological history On September 25, 1998 a tropical wave emerged off the coast of Africa, producing intermittent concentrated clusters of convective activity. The wave traversed the Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea before crossing Central America on October 5 or October 6. After several days, convection increased, and Dvorak classifications initiated. Satellite imagery indicated that the system dissipated on October 11, although an area of cloudiness persisted off the coast of Mexico. After four days, the system regenerated and under diffluent flow aloft, deep convection became more concentrated; it is estimated that a tropical depression formed at 0000 UTC on October 16, about west-southwest of Manzanillo, Mexico. Initially, due to disorganization, determining the forward movement of depression was difficult, although a few hours later it was estimated that the system was tracking to the north-northwest. With favorable conditions aloft, the deep convection became more concentrated, and 12 hours after first developing, the depression intensified into Tropical Storm Madeline about southwest of Cabo Corrientes. During the afternoon, convective cloud tops warmed slightly although the storm continued to intensify. Soon after, thunderstorm activity became limited as Madeline remained generally stationary in movement. An approaching mid-level trough turned Madeline to the northeast. Banding features gradually improved in organization, and late on October 17 the storm attained hurricane status. However, satellite imagery indicated that convective activity was confined to the western portion of the storm, and at the same time an eye began to form. Early on October 18,