The 1978 season

Tropical Storm Della (1978)

Tropical Storm Della peaked at 45 kt in the Western Pacific between August 9, 1978 and August 13, 1978, with a lowest pressure of 985 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Della, 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
Western Pacific
Dates
August 9, 1978 to August 13, 1978
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 45 kt (52 mph)
Lowest pressure
985 mb (29.09 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
1.1
Identifier
WP121978

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 9, 12:0011.5N 130.8E1004 mbMixed
Aug 9, 18:0011.9N 130.3E1004 mbTropical storm
Aug 10, 00:0012.7N 128.8E20 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Aug 10, 06:0013.8N 129.5E20 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Aug 10, 12:0014.8N 129.7E25 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Aug 10, 18:0015.5N 129.4E25 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Aug 11, 00:0016.3N 128.7E30 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Aug 11, 06:0017.3N 127.8E30 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Aug 11, 12:0018.3N 126.9E30 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Aug 11, 18:0019.6N 126.1E30 kt998 mbTropical storm
Aug 12, 00:0020.7N 125.2E35 kt998 mbTropical storm
Aug 12, 06:0021.5N 124.3E40 kt992 mbTropical storm
Aug 12, 12:0022.4N 123.4E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Aug 12, 18:0023.2N 122.7E45 kt985 mbTropical storm
Aug 13, 00:0024.1N 122.0E45 kt985 mbTropical storm
Aug 13, 06:0024.8N 120.7E40 kt996 mbTropical storm
Aug 13, 12:0025.3N 118.8E25 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Aug 13, 18:0025.7N 116.7E1001 mbMixed

Other Western 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.