The 1978 season

Unnamed tropical storm (1978)

Unnamed tropical storm peaked at 40 kt in the North Atlantic between January 18, 1978 and January 23, 1978, with a lowest pressure of 1002 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Unnamed tropical storm, 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
North Atlantic
Dates
January 18, 1978 to January 23, 1978
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 40 kt (46 mph)
Lowest pressure
1002 mb (29.59 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 335 km (208 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
0.0
Identifier
AL011978

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
Jan 18, 12:0022.0N 44.0W25 kt1013 mbSubtropical depression
Jan 18, 18:0022.5N 45.0W25 ktSubtropical depression
Jan 19, 00:0023.0N 46.0W30 ktSubtropical depression
Jan 19, 06:0023.3N 46.7W30 ktSubtropical depression
Jan 19, 12:0023.5N 47.6W35 kt1008 mbSubtropical storm
Jan 19, 18:0023.8N 48.3W35 kt1007 mbSubtropical storm
Jan 20, 00:0024.0N 49.5W35 kt1005 mbSubtropical storm
Jan 20, 06:0023.9N 50.5W35 kt1004 mbSubtropical storm
Jan 20, 12:0023.3N 52.0W40 kt1002 mbSubtropical storm
Jan 20, 18:0022.9N 53.5W40 ktSubtropical storm
Jan 21, 00:0022.8N 54.8W40 ktSubtropical storm
Jan 21, 06:0022.7N 56.0W40 ktSubtropical storm
Jan 21, 12:0022.6N 57.3W40 ktSubtropical storm
Jan 21, 18:0022.4N 58.8W40 kt1003 mbSubtropical storm
Jan 22, 00:0022.0N 59.8W35 ktSubtropical storm
Jan 22, 06:0021.7N 60.8W35 ktSubtropical storm
Jan 22, 12:0021.4N 61.8W30 ktSubtropical depression
Jan 22, 18:0021.0N 62.9W25 kt1010 mbSubtropical depression
Jan 23, 00:0021.0N 64.0W25 ktSubtropical depression

Other North Atlantic 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.