The 1898 Atlantic hurricane season marked the beginning of the Weather Bureau operating a network of observation posts across the Caribbean Sea to track tropical cyclones, established primarily due to the onset of the Spanish–American War. A total of eleven tropical storms formed, five of which intensified into a hurricane, according to HURDAT, the National Hurricane Center's official database. Further, one cyclone strengthened into a major hurricane. However, in the absence of modern satellite and other remote-sensing technologies, only storms that affected populated land areas or encountered ships at sea were recorded, so the actual total could be higher. An undercount bias of zero to six tropical cyclones per year between 1851 and 1885 and zero to four per year between 1886 and 1910 has been estimated. The first system was initially observed on August 2 near West End in the Bahamas, while the eleventh and final storm dissipated on November 4 over the Mexican state of Veracruz.

Originally, only nine storms were recognized during the 1898 season, until reanalysis by meteorologists José Fernández-Partagás and Henry F. Diaz in 1996 led to the inclusion of the third and tenth systems. The Atlantic hurricane reanalysis project implemented few significant changes while reviewing the season in 2011, declining to add or remove storms from HURDAT. However, a study by climate researcher Michael Chenoweth, published in 2014, lists twelve tropical cyclones, proposing the removal of both systems first documented by Fernández-Partagás and Diaz and the eighth storm, as well as the addition of four new storms. However, Chenoweth's reanalysis has yet to be added to HURDAT.

The most intense tropical cyclone of the season, the seventh system, peaked as a Category 4 hurricane on the present-day Saffir–Simpson scale with maximum sustained winds of 130 mph (215 km/h). On October 2, the hurricane struck Georgia, causing 179 fatalities in the state and about $1.5 million (1898 USD) in damage there and in Florida combined. Another devastating storm was the fourth cyclone, which left at least 283 deaths, including 200 or more on Saint Vincent, and approximately $2.5 million in property damage alone on Barbados. In August, the first system caused some damage in the Tampa area and the Florida Panhandle, while 16 people were killed after vessels capsized in the Gulf of Mexico. Additionally, flooding in Cuba's defunct Santa Clara Province as a result of the ninth storm left eight people dead due to drowning. Several other systems impacted land, but generally to a minor extent. Overall, the tropical cyclones of the 1898 Atlantic hurricane season caused at least 486 deaths and more than $4.4 million in damage.

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Season summary

The Atlantic hurricane database (HURDAT) officially recognizes that eleven tropical cyclones formed during the 1898 season, five of which strengthened into a hurricane, with one of those intensifying into a major hurricane. The Atlantic hurricane reanalysis project did not add or remove any storms from the 1996 reanalysis of the season by meteorologists José Fernández-Partagás and Henry F. Diaz. However, a more recent reanalysis by climate researcher Michael Chenoweth, published in 2014, adds four storms and removes three others—the third, eighth, and tenth systems—for a net gain of one cyclone, although these proposed changes have yet to be approved for inclusion to HURDAT.

The track for the first observed storm begins near Grand Bahama in the Bahamas on August 2. Moving west-northwestward to northwestward, the cyclone struck Florida twice before dissipating over Alabama on the following day. After four weeks of no activity, another system was detected on August 30 off the east coast of Florida. Striking South Carolina, the storm crossed into Georgia before also dissipating over Alabama on September 1. September became the most active month of the season, with six known systems developing. This included the seventh storm of the season, the strongest in the Atlantic in 1898, peaking as a Category 4 hurricane with winds of 130 mph (215 km/h) and a barometric pressure of . The storm also remains the most recent to make landfall in Georgia at major hurricane intensity. Three additional systems, all tropical storms, formed in October, with the third dissipating over Mexico by November 4. Overall, the cyclones of the 1898 season caused more than $4.4 million in damage and 486–637 deaths.

In April 1898, the United States declared war on Spain, marking the beginning of the Spanish–American War, after the USS Maine capsized in Havana Harbor on February 15. Due to the increased presence of American vessels in the Caribbean Sea as a result of the war, Weather Bureau head Willis L. Moore convinced President William McKinley to authorize the establishment of weather observation posts throughout the region. Following approval from President McKinley and Congress, the Weather Bureau quickly constructed five sites, with a central location at Kingston, Jamaica, and the others at Santiago de Cuba, Cuba; Willemstad, Curaçao; Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; and Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.

The season's activity was reflected with an accumulated cyclone energy (ACE) rating of 113. ACE is a metric used to express the energy used by a tropical cyclone during its lifetime. Therefore, a storm with a longer duration will have higher values of ACE. It is only calculated at six-hour increments in which specific tropical and subtropical systems are either at or above sustained wind speeds of , which is the threshold for tropical storm intensity. Thus, tropical depressions are not included here.

Systems Hurricane One

According to the Weather Bureau, a "feeble disturbance" developed into a tropical storm near West End in the Bahamas early on August 2. Three hours later, the storm made landfall in Hobe Sound, Florida, with winds of 40 mph (65 km/h). The system briefly weakened to a tropical depression on August 2, before re-strengthening into a tropical storm and emerging into the Gulf of Mexico near Tarpon Springs. Later that day, the cyclone intensified quickly, becoming a Category 1 hurricane on the modern-day Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale at 23:00 UTC. Simultaneously, the hurricane made a second Florida landfall on St. George Island with winds of 80 mph (130 km/h), an intensity estimated mainly based on the severity of damage in the area. After moving inland, it rapidly weakened and dissipated over southwestern Alabama late on August 3.

During its first landfall, the storm churned up surf on the Lake Worth Lagoon, and generated strong winds that felled signage, fencing, and trees. At West Palm Beach winds unofficially "blew with hurricane velocity". About 24 hours of heavy rainfall was observed in the Tampa area, which the Morning Tribune noted caused "great damage ... in many places." In the Florida Panhandle, considerable impact was inflicted to crops, turpentine farms, and property. Offshore, three barges, four tugboats, and many sailing crafts sank. Among the capsized vessels was the tugboat Nimrod, with 12 people aboard, all of whom drowned. Four additional deaths occurred offshore, three after the Keyser wrecked and another one after the Herndon foundered.

Climate researcher Michael Chenoweth's reanalysis, published in 2014, suggests that the storm did not become a tropical storm until reaching the Gulf of Mexico, but did not propose any other significant changes.

Hurricane Two

The Weather Bureau noted that a "feeble disturbance" tracked eastward across the Gulf of Mexico and Florida between August 27 and August 29. After reaching a point about northeast of Cape Canaveral on August 30, the Weather Bureau reported that the disturbance had characteristics of a tropical cyclone. Moving northwestward, the storm soon strengthened into a hurricane and peaked with winds of 85 mph (140 km/h), based on Savannah, Georgia, recording a barometric pressure of . Around 07:00 UTC on August 31, the hurricane made landfall at the south end of Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. The cyclone weakened to a tropical storm about five hours later and then curved westward. Late on September 1, the storm weakened to a tropical depression and dissipated over Alabama.

Severe damage occurred near the storm's point of landfall, with sustained winds of at Tybee Island, Georgia. Approximately 100 buildings in the vicinity of Savannah at least partially lost their roof and many others experienced at least some degree of damage. The barks Noe and Ragna wrecked along the northeast coast of Georgia. At Port Royal, South Carolina, this storm produced 10.82 in (275 mm) of rain over a 24-hour period, breaking the previous one-day record by 5.89 in (150 mm), with a storm total of . Overall, the storm caused approximately $400,000 in damage, nearly all in Savannah and at nearby rice plantations.

Chenoweth argued that this storm developed as a tropical depression on August 29 just north of the Abaco Islands in the Bahamas and weakened slower over the Southeastern United States, dissipating over Tennessee on September 2.

Hurricane Three

On September 3, the ship America first encountered this storm, a Category 1 hurricane about southeast of Cape Race, Newfoundland. The America, Ruthin, and Iddesleigh each recorded winds of 80 mph (130 km/h). Later, waves waterlogged the America and eventually caused it to capsize, but the Marengo rescued the crew. The storm moved northeastward and was last encountered by the brig Iddesleigh on September 5, on the same day the Atlantic hurricane best track indicated that the system transitioned into an extratropical cyclone approximately west-southwest of Ireland. The extratropical storm dissipated several hours later. A reanalysis by Chenoweth, published in 2014, argued that this system was not a tropical cyclone.

Hurricane Four

Ships first indicated the presence of a tropical storm southwest of Cabo Verde on September 5. The system moved generally westward and intensified into a hurricane late the next day. Early on September 11, the storm peaked as a strong Category 2 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 110 mph (175 km/h) as it began passing through the Lesser Antilles, first near Barbados and then between Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent several hours later. Thereafter, the hurricane turned northwestward and entered the Caribbean. Around 18:00 UTC on September 12, the cyclone passed just west of Anguilla while traversing the Anegada Passage and re-emerged into the Atlantic. The storm continued northwestward until curving northeastward on September 17. Late on September 19, the system transitioned into an extratropical cyclone about of the eastern tip of Nova Scotia. The remnants crossed Newfoundland before dissipating over the Labrador Sea on the following day.