The 1978 season

Hurricane Miriam (1978)

Hurricane Miriam reached Category 1 in the Eastern Pacific between August 23, 1978 and September 2, 1978.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Miriam, 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 23, 1978 to September 2, 1978
Peak strength
Category 1, 80 kt (92 mph)
Landfall
No; closest approach 348 km (216 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
5.2
Fastest the center moved
20 kt (23 mph)
Identifier
EP131978

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 23, 18:0010.8N 115.2W25 ktTropical depression
Aug 24, 00:0010.8N 116.0W30 ktTropical depression
Aug 24, 06:0011.4N 117.0W30 ktTropical depression
Aug 24, 12:0011.5N 118.2W30 ktTropical depression
Aug 24, 18:0010.9N 119.8W30 ktTropical depression
Aug 25, 00:0011.0N 121.3W30 ktTropical depression
Aug 25, 06:0011.2N 123.0W25 ktTropical depression
Aug 25, 12:0011.5N 125.0W25 ktTropical depression
Aug 25, 18:0011.9N 127.0W25 ktTropical depression
Aug 26, 00:0012.1N 129.0W25 ktTropical depression
Aug 26, 06:0012.6N 130.4W25 ktTropical depression
Aug 26, 12:0012.6N 132.0W25 ktTropical depression
Aug 26, 18:0012.8N 133.5W25 ktTropical depression
Aug 27, 00:0013.2N 134.8W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 27, 06:0013.5N 136.1W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 27, 12:0013.3N 137.5W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 27, 18:0012.7N 138.8W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 28, 00:0013.0N 140.0W55 ktTropical storm
Aug 28, 06:0013.0N 141.5W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 28, 12:0013.4N 143.0W70 ktHurricane
Aug 28, 18:0014.1N 144.0W75 ktHurricane
Aug 29, 00:0015.1N 145.3W80 ktHurricane
Aug 29, 06:0015.2N 146.5W70 ktHurricane
Aug 29, 12:0015.2N 147.8W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 29, 18:0016.3N 149.2W50 ktTropical storm
Aug 30, 00:0015.8N 150.2W45 ktTropical storm
Aug 30, 06:0016.7N 151.2W45 ktTropical storm
Aug 30, 12:0017.0N 152.7W45 ktTropical storm
Aug 30, 18:0016.0N 154.0W45 ktTropical storm
Aug 31, 00:0015.8N 155.4W45 ktTropical storm
Aug 31, 06:0015.8N 157.0W40 ktTropical storm
Aug 31, 12:0015.8N 158.7W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 31, 18:0015.0N 160.1W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 1, 00:0014.5N 161.5W25 ktTropical depression
Sep 1, 06:0014.5N 163.0W25 ktTropical depression
Sep 1, 12:0014.6N 164.5W25 ktTropical depression
Sep 1, 18:0014.0N 166.2W25 ktTropical depression
Sep 2, 00:0013.8N 168.2W25 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.