The 1878 season

Unnamed hurricane (1878)

Unnamed hurricane reached Category 1 in the North Atlantic between August 8, 1878 and August 19, 1878, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Unnamed hurricane, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1878 season in the same basin behind it, and its wind and pressure hour by hour. Every fix is in the track table below.

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The storm

Basin
North Atlantic
Dates
August 8, 1878 to August 19, 1878
Peak strength
Category 1, 70 kt (81 mph)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
13.5
Identifier
AL021878

Deaths and damage

No source this site reads publishes a machine-readable casualty or damage figure for a storm of this era. The National Hurricane Center’s season tables begin in 1995 and carry deaths and damage only from 2005 in the Atlantic and 2020 in both basins; the US Storm Events record begins in 1996.

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Aug 8, 00:0015.0N 60.5W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 8, 06:0014.9N 61.0W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 8, 12:0014.7N 61.5W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 8, 18:0014.6N 61.9W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 9, 00:0014.6N 62.4W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 9, 06:0014.6N 62.8W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 9, 12:0014.5N 63.3W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 9, 18:0014.5N 64.1W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 10, 00:0014.4N 64.9W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 10, 06:0014.4N 65.6W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 10, 12:0014.3N 66.5W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 10, 18:0014.2N 67.6W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 11, 00:0014.1N 68.6W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 11, 06:0014.0N 70.0W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 11, 12:0014.0N 71.3W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 11, 18:0014.1N 73.0W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 12, 00:0014.3N 74.6W50 ktTropical storm
Aug 12, 06:0014.5N 76.1W50 ktTropical storm
Aug 12, 12:0015.0N 77.5W50 ktTropical storm
Aug 12, 18:0015.9N 78.6W50 ktTropical storm
Aug 13, 00:0016.6N 79.6W50 ktTropical storm
Aug 13, 06:0017.4N 80.6W50 ktTropical storm
Aug 13, 12:0018.0N 81.5W50 ktTropical storm
Aug 13, 18:0018.7N 82.5W50 ktTropical storm
Aug 14, 00:0019.5N 83.3W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 14, 06:0020.2N 84.1W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 14, 12:0021.0N 85.0W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 14, 18:0021.5N 85.6W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 15, 00:0022.0N 86.1W70 ktHurricane
Aug 15, 06:0022.5N 86.8W70 ktHurricane
Aug 15, 12:0022.8N 87.5W70 ktHurricane
Aug 15, 18:0022.9N 88.1W70 ktHurricane
Aug 16, 00:0023.0N 89.0W70 ktHurricane
Aug 16, 06:0023.0N 89.6W70 ktHurricane
Aug 16, 12:0023.0N 90.3W70 ktHurricane
Aug 16, 18:0023.0N 91.1W70 ktHurricane
Aug 17, 00:0023.0N 92.1W70 ktHurricane
Aug 17, 06:0023.0N 93.0W70 ktHurricane
Aug 17, 12:0023.0N 94.0W70 ktHurricane
Aug 17, 18:0023.0N 94.8W70 ktHurricane
Aug 18, 00:0022.9N 95.6W70 ktHurricane
Aug 18, 06:0022.8N 96.5W70 ktHurricane
Aug 18, 12:0022.7N 97.5W70 ktHurricane
Aug 18, 18:0022.6N 98.5W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 19, 00:0022.5N 99.2W30 ktTropical depression
Aug 19, 06:0024.3N 98.7WTropical storm

Other North Atlantic storms of 1878

What this means

A best track is the record a warning agency settles on after the storm, not what it said at the time: position, maximum sustained wind and central pressure every six hours, revised against every observation that came in later. Category is the Saffir-Simpson scale, which runs from Category 1 at 64 kt to Category 5 at 137 kt and reads wind only, so it says nothing about surge or rain. Accumulated cyclone energy adds up the square of the wind through the storm's life, so it counts strength and duration together.

Sources

Storm history from NOAA NCEI’s International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS), which merges the official best track of every warning agency. Live storms, cones, watches and warnings from the National Hurricane Center and the Central Pacific Hurricane Center. Archived radar from NOAA’s Level II archive.

The National Hurricane Center has published no tropical cyclone report for this storm.