The 1978 season

Hurricane Greta:Olivia (1978)

Hurricane Greta:Olivia reached Category 4 in the North Atlantic between September 13, 1978 and September 23, 1978, with a lowest pressure of 947 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Greta:Olivia, 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
North Atlantic
Dates
September 13, 1978 to September 23, 1978
Peak strength
Category 4, 115 kt (132 mph)
Lowest pressure
947 mb (27.96 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
14.9
Fastest the center moved
21 kt (24 mph)
Identifier
AL161978

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
Sep 13, 18:0011.0N 62.5W25 ktTropical depression
Sep 14, 00:0011.5N 64.5W25 ktTropical depression
Sep 14, 06:0012.0N 66.0W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 14, 12:0012.5N 67.5W35 ktTropical storm
Sep 14, 18:0013.0N 69.0W35 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Sep 15, 00:0013.3N 70.4W40 ktTropical storm
Sep 15, 06:0013.4N 71.7W40 ktTropical storm
Sep 15, 12:0013.5N 73.1W45 ktTropical storm
Sep 15, 18:0013.7N 74.2W50 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Sep 16, 00:0013.8N 75.3W55 kt995 mbTropical storm
Sep 16, 06:0013.8N 76.7W60 kt992 mbTropical storm
Sep 16, 12:0014.0N 77.7W70 kt989 mbHurricane
Sep 16, 18:0014.3N 78.7W75 kt986 mbHurricane
Sep 17, 00:0014.6N 79.6W80 kt982 mbHurricane
Sep 17, 06:0014.9N 80.5W85 kt978 mbHurricane
Sep 17, 12:0015.2N 81.6W90 kt974 mbHurricane
Sep 17, 18:0015.5N 82.6W95 kt968 mbHurricane
Sep 18, 00:0015.6N 83.4W110 kt952 mbHurricane
Sep 18, 06:0015.8N 84.3W115 kt947 mbHurricane
Sep 18, 12:0016.4N 85.6W105 kt957 mbHurricane
Sep 18, 18:0016.6N 86.9W100 kt964 mbHurricane
Sep 19, 00:0017.0N 88.2W95 kt964 mbHurricane
Sep 19, 06:0017.0N 89.4W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 19, 12:0016.7N 90.7W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 19, 18:0016.0N 92.0W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 20, 00:0015.7N 93.0W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 20, 06:0015.0N 94.0W35 ktTropical storm
Sep 20, 12:0014.6N 95.0W35 ktTropical storm
Sep 20, 18:0014.9N 95.2W55 ktTropical storm
Sep 21, 00:0014.9N 95.1W55 ktTropical storm
Sep 21, 06:0014.7N 95.1W55 ktTropical storm
Sep 21, 12:0014.3N 95.1W55 ktTropical storm
Sep 21, 18:0013.9N 95.0W60 ktTropical storm
Sep 22, 00:0014.0N 94.8W65 ktHurricane
Sep 22, 06:0014.0N 95.0W65 ktHurricane
Sep 22, 12:0015.2N 94.8W65 ktHurricane
Sep 22, 18:0015.9N 94.3W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 23, 00:0016.5N 94.0W30 ktTropical depression

Other North Atlantic 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.