The 1978 season

Tropical Storm Gloria (1978)

Tropical Storm Gloria peaked at 40 kt in the Western Pacific between August 27, 1978 and September 6, 1978, with a lowest pressure of 992 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Gloria, 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.

Open the live map with storms, cones and warnings

The storm

Basin
Western Pacific
Dates
August 27, 1978 to September 6, 1978
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 40 kt (46 mph)
Lowest pressure
992 mb (29.29 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 33 km (21 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
0.7
Identifier
WP161978

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 27, 18:0019.5N 129.5E1006 mbTropical storm
Aug 28, 00:0020.2N 130.1E1004 mbTropical storm
Aug 28, 06:0020.3N 130.0E1002 mbTropical storm
Aug 28, 12:0020.9N 130.4E20 kt1000 mbTropical depression
Aug 28, 18:0020.8N 129.9E20 kt1000 mbTropical depression
Aug 29, 00:0021.0N 129.3E25 kt1000 mbTropical depression
Aug 29, 06:0021.5N 128.5E25 kt998 mbTropical depression
Aug 29, 12:0022.2N 128.0E30 kt998 mbTropical depression
Aug 29, 18:0023.0N 128.1E35 kt996 mbTropical storm
Aug 30, 00:0023.8N 128.3E40 kt994 mbTropical storm
Aug 30, 06:0024.6N 128.4E40 kt992 mbTropical storm
Aug 30, 12:0025.4N 128.6E40 kt992 mbTropical storm
Aug 30, 18:0026.3N 128.9E35 kt992 mbTropical storm
Aug 31, 00:0027.2N 129.4E30 kt994 mbTropical depression
Aug 31, 06:0028.0N 130.1E30 kt996 mbTropical depression
Aug 31, 12:0028.8N 131.0E30 kt996 mbTropical depression
Aug 31, 18:0029.7N 131.6E25 kt996 mbTropical depression
Sep 1, 00:0028.2N 132.9E998 mbTropical storm
Sep 1, 06:0027.8N 133.6E998 mbTropical storm
Sep 1, 12:0027.4N 133.9E1000 mbTropical storm
Sep 1, 18:0026.9N 133.8E1000 mbTropical storm
Sep 2, 00:0026.4N 132.9E1000 mbTropical storm
Sep 2, 06:0025.7N 131.9ETropical storm
Sep 2, 12:0025.7N 131.9ETropical storm
Sep 2, 18:0025.4N 131.1ETropical storm
Sep 3, 00:0025.2N 130.4ETropical storm
Sep 3, 06:0025.7N 129.9ETropical storm
Sep 3, 12:0025.5N 129.1ETropical storm
Sep 3, 18:0025.9N 127.9EDisturbance
Sep 4, 00:0026.5N 127.1EDisturbance
Sep 4, 06:0026.5N 126.5EDisturbance
Sep 4, 12:0026.3N 125.9EDisturbance
Sep 4, 18:0025.9N 125.2ETropical storm
Sep 5, 00:0025.6N 124.2ETropical storm
Sep 5, 06:0025.5N 123.4ETropical storm
Sep 5, 12:0025.5N 122.6ETropical storm
Sep 5, 18:0025.5N 121.6ETropical storm
Sep 6, 00:0025.3N 120.6EDisturbance
Sep 6, 06:0024.9N 119.9EDisturbance

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.