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The attention of the popular press aside, the deep El Nino Southern Oscillation finishing its run during the winter of 1997-1998 affected the Count in many ways. Large geographic areas experienced severe or "abnormal" weather during the 18-month period prior to this year’s season. As related in last year’s summary, some regions experienced deep snows during the winter of 1996-1997; flooding or drought occurred in others during the summer of 1997; and a generally very mild fall led up to the 98th Count. Even that mild fall had its surprises, however; vast areas of eastern Canada and the Northeastern United States were devastated by an ice storm just before the count period, wreaking havoc on birds’ habitats as well as human lives. In the Pacific, water temperatures along the west coast were still well above normal, bathing the Pacific Northwest with even more than normal moisture, and pulling relatively balmy conditions northward to usually-frigid Alaska. Incessant rain plagued many areas of the western North American coast as well. The warm water conditions brought a good variety of oceanic birds to the west coast, although some seabird colonies experienced nearly total reproductive failure during the summer leading to this year’s count due to the lack of food in the "balmy" waters. In Latin America, precipitation patterns in some areas were reversed, with normally dry regions receiving vast amounts of rain as sunshine baked other areas often thought of as wet habitats.

Farther out to sea, Hawaii and the Pacific Islands were hard-hit by El Nino, directly affecting Christmas Bird Count results. The Hawaiian Islands were under the relentless spell of drought, with wildfires threatening even "rainy" cities like Hilo. All the moisture soaking the west coast of North America had to come from somewhere, and much of it may have been from the atmosphere in the Hawaiian region. And most brutally, supertyphoon Paka hit Guam the week before the counts were conducted there. What were apparently the highest winds ever recorded on the face of the earth, over 235 m.p.h., raged across the island, stripping foliage from most trees. Yet the counts were conducted, though with obviously diminished results. We can only hope that the lack of vegetation will enforce some measure of control on the introduced brown tree snakes there, and that future CBCs on Guam will track the recovery of native landbird populations.