The 1978 season

Hurricane Daniel (1978)

Hurricane Daniel reached Category 3 in the Eastern Pacific between June 26, 1978 and July 3, 1978.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Daniel, 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 26, 1978 to July 3, 1978
Peak strength
Category 3, 100 kt (115 mph)
Landfall
No; closest approach 275 km (171 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
11.4
Fastest the center moved
22 kt (25 mph)
Identifier
EP041978

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 26, 18:0013.6N 100.1W30 ktTropical depression
Jun 27, 00:0014.0N 101.0W30 ktTropical depression
Jun 27, 06:0014.7N 101.7W35 ktTropical storm
Jun 27, 12:0015.3N 102.6W35 ktTropical storm
Jun 27, 18:0015.6N 103.6W25 ktTropical depression
Jun 28, 00:0015.8N 104.7W30 ktTropical depression
Jun 28, 06:0016.1N 105.7W30 ktTropical depression
Jun 28, 12:0016.3N 106.7W30 ktTropical depression
Jun 28, 18:0016.6N 107.7W55 ktTropical storm
Jun 29, 00:0016.7N 108.7W60 ktTropical storm
Jun 29, 06:0016.8N 109.8W60 ktTropical storm
Jun 29, 12:0016.9N 110.9W60 ktTropical storm
Jun 29, 18:0016.9N 111.9W65 ktHurricane
Jun 30, 00:0016.9N 112.9W70 ktHurricane
Jun 30, 06:0016.8N 114.0W80 ktHurricane
Jun 30, 12:0016.8N 115.2W100 ktHurricane
Jun 30, 18:0016.7N 116.6W100 ktHurricane
Jul 1, 00:0016.7N 118.0W100 ktHurricane
Jul 1, 06:0016.7N 119.7W100 ktHurricane
Jul 1, 12:0016.7N 121.3W100 ktHurricane
Jul 1, 18:0016.7N 123.0W90 ktHurricane
Jul 2, 00:0016.6N 124.7W90 ktHurricane
Jul 2, 06:0016.5N 126.3W80 ktHurricane
Jul 2, 12:0016.5N 128.0W65 ktHurricane
Jul 2, 18:0016.8N 129.7W45 ktTropical storm
Jul 3, 00:0017.1N 131.7W45 ktTropical storm
Jul 3, 06:0017.3N 133.7W35 ktTropical storm
Jul 3, 12:0017.3N 135.8W30 ktTropical depression
Jul 3, 18:0016.4N 137.8W20 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.