The 1978 season

Hurricane Carlotta (1978)

Hurricane Carlotta reached Category 4 in the Eastern Pacific between June 17, 1978 and June 25, 1978.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Carlotta, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1978 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
Eastern Pacific
Dates
June 17, 1978 to June 25, 1978
Peak strength
Category 4, 115 kt (132 mph)
Landfall
No; closest approach 585 km (364 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
20.1
Fastest the center moved
17 kt (20 mph)
Identifier
EP031978

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
Jun 17, 06:0013.7N 106.1W20 ktTropical depression
Jun 17, 12:0013.7N 107.2W25 ktTropical depression
Jun 17, 18:0013.7N 108.5W25 ktTropical depression
Jun 18, 00:0013.5N 109.7W35 ktTropical storm
Jun 18, 06:0013.3N 110.7W35 ktTropical storm
Jun 18, 12:0013.0N 111.5W35 ktTropical storm
Jun 18, 18:0012.5N 112.0W40 ktTropical storm
Jun 19, 00:0012.2N 112.6W45 ktTropical storm
Jun 19, 06:0011.9N 113.3W65 ktHurricane
Jun 19, 12:0011.8N 113.9W65 ktHurricane
Jun 19, 18:0011.8N 114.5W70 ktHurricane
Jun 20, 00:0011.9N 115.0W70 ktHurricane
Jun 20, 06:0012.1N 115.2W100 ktHurricane
Jun 20, 12:0012.3N 115.5W105 ktHurricane
Jun 20, 18:0012.7N 116.3W105 ktHurricane
Jun 21, 00:0013.1N 117.0W110 ktHurricane
Jun 21, 06:0013.5N 117.5W110 ktHurricane
Jun 21, 12:0013.9N 118.1W115 ktHurricane
Jun 21, 18:0014.0N 119.0W115 ktHurricane
Jun 22, 00:0014.3N 119.5W115 ktHurricane
Jun 22, 06:0014.7N 120.0W110 ktHurricane
Jun 22, 12:0015.1N 120.3W115 ktHurricane
Jun 22, 18:0015.9N 121.1W110 ktHurricane
Jun 23, 00:0016.5N 122.0W105 ktHurricane
Jun 23, 06:0017.0N 122.5W90 ktHurricane
Jun 23, 12:0017.7N 123.2W75 ktHurricane
Jun 23, 18:0018.1N 124.2W70 ktHurricane
Jun 24, 00:0018.3N 125.3W60 ktTropical storm
Jun 24, 06:0018.5N 126.5W55 ktTropical storm
Jun 24, 12:0018.5N 127.6W50 ktTropical storm
Jun 24, 18:0018.9N 128.9W40 ktTropical storm
Jun 25, 00:0019.1N 130.5W35 ktTropical storm
Jun 25, 06:0019.2N 132.2W25 ktTropical depression
Jun 25, 12:0019.0N 134.0W25 ktTropical depression
Jun 25, 18:0019.1N 135.6W20 ktTropical depression

Other Eastern Pacific storms of 1978

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.