The 1878 season

Unnamed hurricane (1878)

Unnamed hurricane reached Category 4 in the North Atlantic between September 24, 1878 and October 9, 1878, with a lowest pressure of 938 mb, 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.

Open the live map with storms, cones and warnings

The storm

Basin
North Atlantic
Dates
September 24, 1878 to October 9, 1878
Peak strength
Category 4, 120 kt (138 mph)
Lowest pressure
938 mb (27.70 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
50.8
Identifier
AL071878

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
Sep 24, 00:0015.1N 71.9W40 ktTropical storm
Sep 24, 06:0015.5N 71.9W40 ktTropical storm
Sep 24, 12:0016.0N 72.0W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 24, 18:0016.2N 72.0W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 25, 00:0016.4N 72.0W60 ktTropical storm
Sep 25, 06:0016.7N 72.1W60 ktTropical storm
Sep 25, 12:0017.0N 72.1W70 ktHurricane
Sep 25, 18:0017.6N 72.2W70 ktHurricane
Sep 26, 00:0018.0N 72.3W70 ktHurricane
Sep 26, 06:0018.4N 72.4W60 ktTropical storm
Sep 26, 12:0018.7N 72.5W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 26, 18:0019.2N 72.6W40 ktTropical storm
Sep 27, 00:0019.5N 72.6W40 ktTropical storm
Sep 27, 06:0019.7N 72.6W40 ktTropical storm
Sep 27, 12:0020.1N 72.6W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 27, 18:0020.5N 72.7W60 ktTropical storm
Sep 28, 00:0020.9N 72.8W70 ktHurricane
Sep 28, 06:0021.2N 72.9W70 ktHurricane
Sep 28, 12:0021.6N 73.0W70 ktHurricane
Sep 28, 18:0022.1N 73.1W70 ktHurricane
Sep 29, 00:0022.4N 73.3W80 ktHurricane
Sep 29, 06:0022.7N 73.4W80 ktHurricane
Sep 29, 12:0023.2N 73.5W80 ktHurricane
Sep 29, 18:0023.6N 73.5W80 ktHurricane
Sep 30, 00:0023.9N 73.5W90 ktHurricane
Sep 30, 06:0024.2N 73.5W90 ktHurricane
Sep 30, 12:0024.7N 73.5W90 ktHurricane
Sep 30, 18:0025.4N 73.5W90 ktHurricane
Oct 1, 00:0025.8N 73.5W100 ktHurricane
Oct 1, 06:0026.3N 73.4W100 ktHurricane
Oct 1, 12:0026.8N 73.3W100 ktHurricane
Oct 1, 18:0027.4N 73.1W100 ktHurricane
Oct 2, 00:0027.6N 73.1W110 ktHurricane
Oct 2, 06:0028.0N 73.1W110 ktHurricane
Oct 2, 12:0028.5N 73.0W110 ktHurricane
Oct 2, 18:0028.9N 72.9W110 ktHurricane
Oct 3, 00:0029.3N 72.6W120 ktHurricane
Oct 3, 06:0029.8N 72.5W120 ktHurricane
Oct 3, 12:0030.2N 72.1W120 ktHurricane
Oct 3, 18:0030.8N 71.9W120 ktHurricane
Oct 4, 00:0031.4N 71.5W120 ktHurricane
Oct 4, 06:0031.9N 71.1W120 ktHurricane
Oct 4, 12:0032.5N 70.6W120 ktHurricane
Oct 4, 18:0033.3N 70.0W120 ktHurricane
Oct 5, 00:0033.9N 69.3W110 ktHurricane
Oct 5, 06:0034.4N 68.6W110 ktHurricane
Oct 5, 12:0035.0N 67.7W110 ktHurricane
Oct 5, 18:0036.0N 66.6W110 ktHurricane
Oct 6, 00:0037.3N 64.8W110 ktHurricane
Oct 6, 06:0038.5N 62.6W110 ktHurricane
Oct 6, 12:0039.7N 60.5W110 ktHurricane
Oct 6, 18:0040.7N 58.3W110 ktHurricane
Oct 7, 00:0041.7N 55.5W110 ktHurricane
Oct 7, 06:0042.7N 51.9W110 ktHurricane
Oct 7, 12:0043.5N 48.5W110 kt938 mbHurricane
Oct 7, 18:0044.8N 44.3W100 ktHurricane
Oct 8, 00:0046.2N 39.5W100 ktHurricane
Oct 8, 06:0047.5N 35.5W100 ktHurricane
Oct 8, 12:0048.5N 31.0W90 ktHurricane
Oct 8, 18:0049.5N 27.0W90 ktHurricane
Oct 9, 00:0048.3N 27.1WExtratropical
Oct 9, 06:0048.2N 23.5WExtratropical
Oct 9, 12:0048.2N 20.0WExtratropical

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.