The 1978 season

Hurricane John (1978)

Hurricane John reached Category 2 in the Eastern Pacific between August 18, 1978 and August 31, 1978.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane John, 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
August 18, 1978 to August 31, 1978
Peak strength
Category 2, 90 kt (104 mph)
Landfall
No; closest approach 419 km (260 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
13.1
Fastest the center moved
16 kt (18 mph)
Identifier
EP101978

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 18, 00:0012.2N 121.0W30 ktTropical depression
Aug 18, 06:0012.3N 121.7W30 ktTropical depression
Aug 18, 12:0012.4N 122.4W30 ktTropical depression
Aug 18, 18:0012.4N 123.3W30 ktTropical depression
Aug 19, 00:0012.3N 123.8W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 19, 06:0012.2N 124.3W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 19, 12:0012.1N 124.6W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 19, 18:0012.0N 125.0W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 20, 00:0012.2N 125.6W55 ktTropical storm
Aug 20, 06:0012.4N 126.1W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 20, 12:0012.8N 126.8W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 20, 18:0013.3N 127.3W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 21, 00:0013.7N 128.2W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 21, 06:0014.1N 129.1W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 21, 12:0014.4N 130.1W50 ktTropical storm
Aug 21, 18:0014.9N 131.1W50 ktTropical storm
Aug 22, 00:0015.4N 132.4W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 22, 06:0015.8N 133.6W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 22, 12:0015.7N 134.8W70 ktHurricane
Aug 22, 18:0015.6N 135.8W65 ktHurricane
Aug 23, 00:0015.5N 137.0W65 ktHurricane
Aug 23, 06:0015.4N 138.2W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 23, 12:0015.4N 139.4W55 ktTropical storm
Aug 23, 18:0015.5N 140.5W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 24, 00:0015.4N 141.7W65 ktHurricane
Aug 24, 06:0015.5N 143.0W70 ktHurricane
Aug 24, 12:0015.7N 143.7W75 ktHurricane
Aug 24, 18:0015.9N 145.2W80 ktHurricane
Aug 25, 00:0016.3N 145.2W90 ktHurricane
Aug 25, 06:0016.0N 146.9W80 ktHurricane
Aug 25, 12:0015.9N 147.8W70 ktHurricane
Aug 25, 18:0015.8N 148.5W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 26, 00:0015.4N 149.3W50 ktTropical storm
Aug 26, 06:0015.0N 150.0W50 ktTropical storm
Aug 26, 12:0014.8N 150.8W45 ktTropical storm
Aug 26, 18:0014.8N 151.7W45 ktTropical storm
Aug 27, 00:0015.1N 152.5W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 27, 06:0015.0N 153.5W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 27, 12:0014.9N 154.5W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 27, 18:0015.0N 156.5W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 28, 00:0015.3N 156.7W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 28, 06:0015.5N 157.5W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 28, 12:0015.4N 158.3W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 28, 18:0015.0N 159.0W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 29, 00:0014.8N 159.7W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 29, 06:0014.9N 161.5W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 29, 12:0014.8N 163.0W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 29, 18:0014.4N 164.6W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 30, 00:0014.8N 166.2W30 ktTropical depression
Aug 30, 06:0014.7N 167.7W25 ktTropical depression
Aug 30, 12:0014.8N 169.0W25 ktTropical depression
Aug 30, 18:0014.8N 170.2W25 ktTropical depression
Aug 31, 00:0014.6N 171.1W25 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.