The 1978 season

Unnamed tropical depression (1978)

Unnamed tropical depression peaked at 30 kt in the North Atlantic between September 18, 1978 and September 29, 1978, and made landfall.

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
North Atlantic
Dates
September 18, 1978 to September 29, 1978
Peak strength
Tropical Depression, 30 kt (35 mph)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
0.0
Identifier
AL171978

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
Sep 18, 12:0013.0N 16.0W20 ktTropical depression
Sep 18, 18:0012.8N 17.4W20 ktTropical depression
Sep 19, 00:0012.5N 18.8W25 ktTropical depression
Sep 19, 06:0012.3N 20.1W25 ktTropical depression
Sep 19, 12:0012.0N 21.5W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 19, 18:0012.0N 22.9W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 20, 00:0012.0N 24.3W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 20, 06:0012.0N 25.7W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 20, 12:0012.0N 27.0W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 20, 18:0012.2N 28.3W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 21, 00:0012.5N 29.5W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 21, 06:0012.7N 30.7W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 21, 12:0013.0N 32.0W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 21, 18:0013.5N 33.7W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 22, 00:0014.0N 35.5W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 22, 06:0014.5N 37.3W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 22, 12:0015.0N 39.0W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 22, 18:0015.4N 39.8W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 23, 00:0015.8N 40.5W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 23, 06:0016.2N 41.2W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 23, 12:0016.5N 42.0W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 23, 18:0016.6N 42.7W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 24, 00:0016.7N 43.5W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 24, 06:0016.8N 44.2W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 24, 12:0017.0N 45.0W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 24, 18:0017.2N 46.0W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 25, 00:0017.5N 47.0W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 25, 06:0017.8N 48.0W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 25, 12:0018.0N 49.0W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 25, 18:0018.5N 49.8W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 26, 00:0019.0N 50.5W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 26, 06:0019.5N 51.2W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 26, 12:0020.0N 52.0W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 26, 18:0020.8N 52.8W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 27, 00:0021.5N 53.5W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 27, 06:0022.2N 54.2W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 27, 12:0023.0N 55.0W30 ktTropical depression
Sep 27, 18:0023.8N 55.5W25 ktTropical depression
Sep 28, 00:0024.5N 56.0W25 ktTropical depression
Sep 28, 06:0025.2N 56.5W25 ktTropical depression
Sep 28, 12:0026.0N 57.0W25 ktTropical depression
Sep 28, 18:0027.8N 57.0W25 ktTropical depression
Sep 29, 00:0029.5N 57.0W20 ktTropical depression
Sep 29, 06:0031.2N 57.0W20 ktTropical depression
Sep 29, 12:0033.0N 57.0W20 ktTropical 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.