The 1978 season

Hurricane Kristy (1978)

Hurricane Kristy reached Category 2 in the Eastern Pacific between August 18, 1978 and August 28, 1978.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Kristy, 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 28, 1978
Peak strength
Category 2, 90 kt (104 mph)
Landfall
No; closest approach 782 km (486 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
15.9
Fastest the center moved
17 kt (20 mph)
Identifier
EP111978

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, 18:0013.6N 109.2W30 ktTropical depression
Aug 19, 00:0014.1N 110.0W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 19, 06:0014.6N 110.8W45 ktTropical storm
Aug 19, 12:0015.0N 111.5W55 ktTropical storm
Aug 19, 18:0015.5N 112.3W65 ktHurricane
Aug 20, 00:0015.9N 113.0W75 ktHurricane
Aug 20, 06:0016.1N 113.9W80 ktHurricane
Aug 20, 12:0016.3N 114.8W80 ktHurricane
Aug 20, 18:0016.6N 115.6W80 ktHurricane
Aug 21, 00:0017.0N 116.4W85 ktHurricane
Aug 21, 06:0017.3N 117.2W90 ktHurricane
Aug 21, 12:0017.5N 117.9W90 ktHurricane
Aug 21, 18:0017.8N 118.7W90 ktHurricane
Aug 22, 00:0018.4N 119.4W90 ktHurricane
Aug 22, 06:0018.6N 120.4W90 ktHurricane
Aug 22, 12:0018.5N 121.5W90 ktHurricane
Aug 22, 18:0018.5N 122.5W75 ktHurricane
Aug 23, 00:0018.5N 123.5W70 ktHurricane
Aug 23, 06:0018.4N 124.9W65 ktHurricane
Aug 23, 12:0018.3N 126.2W65 ktHurricane
Aug 23, 18:0018.4N 127.6W65 ktHurricane
Aug 24, 00:0018.6N 129.0W65 ktHurricane
Aug 24, 06:0018.7N 130.3W55 ktTropical storm
Aug 24, 12:0018.9N 131.6W55 ktTropical storm
Aug 24, 18:0019.2N 132.9W55 ktTropical storm
Aug 25, 00:0019.8N 134.2W70 ktHurricane
Aug 25, 06:0020.1N 135.3W75 ktHurricane
Aug 25, 12:0020.3N 136.5W65 ktHurricane
Aug 25, 18:0020.8N 137.4W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 26, 00:0021.2N 138.4W55 ktTropical storm
Aug 26, 06:0021.3N 139.1W50 ktTropical storm
Aug 26, 12:0021.4N 140.2W45 ktTropical storm
Aug 26, 18:0021.3N 141.5W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 27, 00:0021.5N 142.5W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 27, 06:0021.5N 144.8W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 27, 12:0022.8N 146.1W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 27, 18:0024.3N 147.5W30 ktTropical depression
Aug 28, 00:0024.4N 149.5W25 ktTropical depression
Aug 28, 06:0023.3N 146.3W25 ktTropical depression
Aug 28, 12:0023.8N 147.2W25 ktTropical depression
Aug 28, 18:0024.4N 148.4W25 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.