The 1978 season

Unnamed tropical depression (1978)

Unnamed tropical depression peaked at unknown kt in the Western Pacific between November 13, 1978 and November 17, 1978.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Unnamed tropical depression, 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
November 13, 1978 to November 17, 1978
Peak strength
Tropical Depression
Landfall
No; closest approach 140 km (87 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
0.0
Identifier
1978317N09150

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
Nov 13, 00:008.5N 150.0EDisturbance
Nov 13, 06:009.0N 148.5ETropical storm
Nov 13, 12:009.5N 146.5ETropical storm
Nov 13, 18:009.2N 144.2ETropical storm
Nov 14, 00:008.5N 142.0EDisturbance
Nov 14, 06:007.3N 140.0EDisturbance
Nov 14, 12:007.0N 138.0EDisturbance
Nov 14, 18:007.3N 136.0EDisturbance
Nov 15, 00:008.0N 133.0EDisturbance
Nov 15, 06:009.0N 131.0EDisturbance
Nov 15, 12:0010.0N 129.5EDisturbance
Nov 15, 18:0011.4N 130.0EDisturbance
Nov 16, 00:0012.5N 130.5EDisturbance
Nov 16, 06:0014.5N 129.5EDisturbance
Nov 16, 12:0015.0N 128.0EDisturbance
Nov 16, 18:0014.1N 126.8EDisturbance
Nov 17, 00:0013.0N 126.5EDisturbance
Nov 17, 06:0014.0N 127.3EDisturbance

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.