The 1978 season

Tropical Storm Georgia (1978)

Tropical Storm Georgia peaked at 36 kt in the South Indian between January 27, 1978 and February 5, 1978, with a lowest pressure of 991 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Georgia, 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
South Indian
Dates
January 27, 1978 to February 5, 1978
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 36 kt (41 mph), ten-minute wind
Lowest pressure
991 mb (29.26 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
0.3
Identifier
SH151978

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
Jan 27, 06:0018.0S 42.5ETropical storm
Jan 27, 12:0018.4S 43.0ETropical storm
Jan 27, 18:0018.8S 43.5ETropical storm
Jan 28, 00:0019.2S 44.0ETropical storm
Jan 28, 06:0019.7S 44.5E24 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Jan 28, 12:0020.7S 45.3ETropical storm
Jan 28, 18:0022.0S 46.1ETropical storm
Jan 29, 00:0023.4S 46.7ETropical storm
Jan 29, 06:0024.5S 47.0E36 kt991 mbMixed
Jan 29, 12:0025.1S 47.1EMixed
Jan 29, 18:0025.5S 47.2EMixed
Jan 30, 00:0025.9S 47.2EMixed
Jan 30, 06:0026.4S 47.3E36 kt991 mbMixed
Jan 30, 12:0027.1S 47.4EMixed
Jan 30, 18:0027.8S 47.5EMixed
Jan 31, 00:0028.4S 47.7EMixed
Jan 31, 06:0029.0S 48.0E28 kt997 mbMixed
Jan 31, 12:0029.5S 48.4EMixed
Jan 31, 18:0029.9S 48.8EMixed
Feb 1, 00:0030.1S 49.2EMixed
Feb 1, 06:0030.4S 50.1E28 kt997 mbMixed
Feb 1, 12:0030.6S 51.7EMixed
Feb 1, 18:0030.9S 53.5EMixed
Feb 2, 00:0030.9S 55.4EMixed
Feb 2, 06:0030.8S 57.0E24 kt1000 mbMixed
Feb 2, 12:0030.7S 57.9EMixed
Feb 2, 18:0030.5S 58.5EMixed
Feb 3, 00:0030.2S 59.2EMixed
Feb 3, 06:0029.9S 59.9E20 kt1003 mbMixed
Feb 3, 12:0029.5S 60.2EMixed
Feb 3, 18:0029.0S 59.9EMixed
Feb 4, 00:0028.6S 59.3EMixed
Feb 4, 06:0028.5S 58.5EMixed
Feb 4, 12:0028.8S 57.5EMixed
Feb 4, 18:0029.2S 56.5EMixed
Feb 5, 00:0029.5S 55.7EMixed
Feb 5, 06:0029.9S 55.1EMixed

Other South Indian 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. This storm’s winds are ten-minute averages from its regional agency. They read about 12 percent lower than the one-minute winds US agencies use, so a Saffir-Simpson category is not given for it.

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.