The 1978 season

Tropical Storm Shirley (1978)

Tropical Storm Shirley peaked at 35 kt in the Western Pacific between June 26, 1978 and July 2, 1978, with a lowest pressure of 992 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Shirley, 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.

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The storm

Basin
Western Pacific
Dates
June 26, 1978 to July 2, 1978
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 35 kt (40 mph)
Lowest pressure
992 mb (29.29 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
0.4
Identifier
WP051978

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
Jun 26, 00:0011.1N 129.5E15 ktTropical depression
Jun 26, 06:0011.2N 128.5E15 ktTropical depression
Jun 26, 12:0011.3N 127.5E15 ktTropical depression
Jun 26, 18:0011.3N 126.6E15 ktTropical depression
Jun 27, 00:0011.3N 125.6E20 ktTropical depression
Jun 27, 06:0011.3N 124.3E20 ktTropical depression
Jun 27, 12:0011.3N 122.8E20 ktTropical depression
Jun 27, 18:0011.1N 121.0E25 ktTropical depression
Jun 28, 00:0010.7N 119.2E25 kt1006 mbTropical depression
Jun 28, 06:0010.5N 117.9E25 kt1006 mbTropical depression
Jun 28, 12:0010.3N 117.0E25 kt1006 mbTropical depression
Jun 28, 18:0010.3N 117.2E25 kt1006 mbTropical depression
Jun 29, 00:0010.5N 117.4E25 kt1006 mbTropical depression
Jun 29, 06:0010.9N 116.5E25 kt1004 mbTropical depression
Jun 29, 12:0011.4N 115.2E25 kt1004 mbTropical depression
Jun 29, 18:0012.1N 113.7E30 kt1002 mbTropical depression
Jun 30, 00:0012.8N 112.2E35 kt996 mbTropical storm
Jun 30, 06:0013.2N 110.7E35 kt996 mbTropical storm
Jun 30, 12:0013.5N 109.3E35 kt992 mbTropical storm
Jun 30, 18:0014.1N 108.1E30 kt1000 mbTropical depression
Jul 1, 00:0014.8N 106.8E1000 mbMixed
Jul 1, 06:0015.7N 105.0E1000 mbTropical storm
Jul 1, 12:0016.2N 103.6E1000 mbTropical storm
Jul 1, 18:0016.9N 102.8E1000 mbTropical storm
Jul 2, 00:0017.3N 102.0E1000 mbMixed

Other Western 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.