The 1978 season

Hurricane Hector (1978)

Hurricane Hector reached Category 4 in the Eastern Pacific between July 22, 1978 and July 29, 1978.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Hector, 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
Eastern Pacific
Dates
July 22, 1978 to July 29, 1978
Peak strength
Category 4, 120 kt (138 mph)
Landfall
No; closest approach 299 km (186 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
16.6
Fastest the center moved
18 kt (21 mph)
Identifier
EP081978

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
Jul 22, 00:0013.4N 100.2W30 ktTropical depression
Jul 22, 06:0013.7N 100.7W35 ktTropical storm
Jul 22, 12:0014.2N 101.2W40 ktTropical storm
Jul 22, 18:0014.6N 101.8W50 ktTropical storm
Jul 23, 00:0014.9N 102.5W60 ktTropical storm
Jul 23, 06:0015.1N 103.3W60 ktTropical storm
Jul 23, 12:0015.3N 104.1W65 ktHurricane
Jul 23, 18:0015.5N 104.8W70 ktHurricane
Jul 24, 00:0015.4N 105.6W70 ktHurricane
Jul 24, 06:0015.5N 106.5W70 ktHurricane
Jul 24, 12:0015.6N 107.5W70 ktHurricane
Jul 24, 18:0015.9N 108.7W80 ktHurricane
Jul 25, 00:0016.0N 109.9W105 ktHurricane
Jul 25, 06:0016.2N 111.1W120 ktHurricane
Jul 25, 12:0016.5N 112.2W120 ktHurricane
Jul 25, 18:0017.2N 113.2W120 ktHurricane
Jul 26, 00:0018.0N 114.0W110 ktHurricane
Jul 26, 06:0018.5N 115.1W100 ktHurricane
Jul 26, 12:0019.0N 116.2W95 ktHurricane
Jul 26, 18:0019.8N 116.9W90 ktHurricane
Jul 27, 00:0020.0N 118.0W75 ktHurricane
Jul 27, 06:0020.2N 118.8W70 ktHurricane
Jul 27, 12:0020.4N 119.6W75 ktHurricane
Jul 27, 18:0020.9N 120.3W60 ktTropical storm
Jul 28, 00:0021.5N 121.5W55 ktTropical storm
Jul 28, 06:0021.8N 122.6W50 ktTropical storm
Jul 28, 12:0022.0N 122.8W50 ktTropical storm
Jul 28, 18:0022.1N 124.9W45 ktTropical storm
Jul 29, 00:0022.4N 126.1W30 ktTropical depression
Jul 29, 06:0022.6N 127.4W30 ktTropical depression
Jul 29, 12:0023.0N 128.8W30 ktTropical depression
Jul 29, 18:0023.5N 130.0W25 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.