The 1878 season

Unnamed hurricane (1878)

Unnamed hurricane reached Category 2 in the North Atlantic between August 23, 1878 and August 31, 1878, with a lowest pressure of 972 mb.

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 23, 1878 to August 31, 1878
Peak strength
Category 2, 90 kt (104 mph)
Lowest pressure
972 mb (28.70 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 60 km (37 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
13.1
Identifier
AL041878

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 23, 12:0025.1N 79.8WTropical storm
Aug 23, 18:0025.2N 79.6WTropical storm
Aug 24, 00:0025.3N 79.4WTropical storm
Aug 24, 06:0025.4N 79.2WTropical storm
Aug 24, 12:0025.5N 79.0WTropical storm
Aug 24, 18:0025.6N 78.8WTropical storm
Aug 25, 00:0024.7N 77.1W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 25, 06:0025.4N 76.6W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 25, 12:0026.0N 76.3W50 ktTropical storm
Aug 25, 18:0026.7N 75.6W50 kt996 mbTropical storm
Aug 26, 00:0027.4N 74.9W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 26, 06:0028.2N 74.1W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 26, 12:0029.0N 73.0W70 ktHurricane
Aug 26, 18:0029.5N 72.1W70 ktHurricane
Aug 27, 00:0030.1N 71.3W70 ktHurricane
Aug 27, 06:0030.8N 70.3W70 ktHurricane
Aug 27, 12:0031.5N 69.3W80 ktHurricane
Aug 27, 18:0032.0N 68.4W80 ktHurricane
Aug 28, 00:0032.5N 67.5W90 ktHurricane
Aug 28, 06:0032.9N 66.6W90 ktHurricane
Aug 28, 12:0033.5N 65.3W90 ktHurricane
Aug 28, 18:0034.0N 63.9W90 kt972 mbHurricane
Aug 29, 00:0034.5N 62.2W80 kt974 mbHurricane
Aug 29, 06:0035.2N 60.4W80 kt975 mbHurricane
Aug 29, 12:0035.7N 58.7W80 ktHurricane
Aug 29, 18:0036.3N 56.3W80 ktHurricane
Aug 30, 00:0036.8N 53.0W80 ktHurricane
Aug 30, 06:0037.0N 49.5W80 ktHurricane
Aug 30, 12:0037.3N 46.5W80 ktHurricane
Aug 30, 18:0037.5N 43.0W80 ktHurricane
Aug 31, 00:0040.5N 42.2WTropical storm
Aug 31, 06:0041.3N 39.0WTropical storm
Aug 31, 12:0042.1N 36.0WTropical 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.