The 1970 season

Tropical Storm Greta (1970)

Tropical Storm Greta peaked at 40 kt in the North Atlantic between September 26, 1970 and October 4, 1970, with a lowest pressure of 1003 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Greta, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1970 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
September 26, 1970 to October 4, 1970
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 40 kt (46 mph)
Lowest pressure
1003 mb (29.62 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
0.9
Fastest the center moved
15 kt (17 mph)
Identifier
AL161970

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.

Rainfall

The Weather Prediction Center attributes 137 rain gauge totals over the contiguous United States to this storm. The wettest reached 8.94 inches (227 mm).

StationTotalPosition
FT PIERCE8.94 in (227 mm)27.43N 80.33W
MELBOURNE5.20 in (132 mm)28.08N 80.60W
VERO BEACH 4SE5.20 in (132 mm)27.63N 80.45W
STUART4.25 in (108 mm)27.20N 80.25W
FT LAUDERDALE3.87 in (98 mm)26.10N 80.15W
COCOA BEACH PATRICK AFB3.50 in (89 mm)28.23N 80.60W
NAPLES3.43 in (87 mm)26.12N 81.82W
TITUSVILLE2.76 in (70 mm)28.62N 80.83W
TAMIAMI TRL 40 MI BEND2.75 in (70 mm)25.75N 80.83W
MILTON EXP STN2.40 in (61 mm)30.78N 87.15W
KEY WEST NAS2.36 in (60 mm)24.58N 81.68W
HOMESTEAD AFB2.33 in (59 mm)25.48N 80.38W

WPC’s storm rainfall file, 1900 to 2020, compiled by David Roth.

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Sep 26, 12:0022.2N 75.4W35 ktTropical storm
Sep 26, 18:0022.7N 76.2W40 kt1005 mbTropical storm
Sep 27, 00:0023.3N 77.2W40 kt1007 mbTropical storm
Sep 27, 06:0023.8N 78.2W40 kt1006 mbTropical storm
Sep 27, 12:0024.1N 79.7W40 kt1005 mbTropical storm
Sep 27, 18:0024.4N 81.3W35 kt1007 mbTropical storm
Sep 28, 00:0024.7N 82.8W30 kt1006 mbTropical depression
Sep 28, 06:0024.9N 83.5W30 kt1006 mbTropical depression
Sep 28, 12:0025.0N 83.9W30 kt1006 mbTropical depression
Sep 28, 18:0024.9N 84.2W30 kt1007 mbTropical depression
Sep 29, 00:0024.8N 84.4W30 kt1006 mbTropical depression
Sep 29, 06:0024.6N 84.5W30 kt1007 mbTropical depression
Sep 29, 12:0024.4N 84.8W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 29, 18:0024.2N 85.1W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 30, 00:0024.1N 85.4W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 30, 06:0024.0N 85.7W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 30, 12:0023.8N 86.0W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 30, 18:0023.5N 86.3W30 kt1006 mbTropical depression
Oct 1, 00:0023.1N 86.7W30 kt1004 mbTropical depression
Oct 1, 06:0022.6N 87.2W30 kt1004 mbTropical depression
Oct 1, 12:0022.2N 87.8W30 kt1004 mbTropical depression
Oct 1, 18:0021.9N 88.4W30 kt1004 mbTropical depression
Oct 2, 00:0021.7N 89.0W30 kt1003 mbTropical depression
Oct 2, 06:0021.7N 89.5W30 kt1004 mbTropical depression
Oct 2, 12:0021.6N 90.1W30 kt1005 mbTropical depression
Oct 2, 18:0021.6N 90.9W30 kt1005 mbTropical depression
Oct 3, 00:0021.4N 91.7W30 ktTropical depression
Oct 3, 06:0021.2N 92.5W30 ktTropical depression
Oct 3, 12:0021.2N 93.2W25 ktTropical depression
Oct 3, 18:0021.2N 93.9W25 ktTropical depression
Oct 4, 00:0021.4N 94.7W25 ktTropical depression
Oct 4, 06:0021.7N 95.7W25 ktTropical depression
Oct 4, 12:0022.1N 96.9W25 kt1009 mbTropical depression
Oct 4, 18:0022.5N 98.2W25 ktTropical depression

Other North Atlantic storms of 1970

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.