The 1978 season

Cyclone Winnie (1978)

Cyclone Winnie reached Category 3 in the South Indian between March 16, 1978 and March 29, 1978, with a lowest pressure of 945 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Cyclone Winnie, 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
South Indian
Dates
March 16, 1978 to March 29, 1978
Peak strength
Category 3, 105 kt (121 mph)
Lowest pressure
945 mb (27.91 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 1507 km (936 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
19.6
Identifier
SH271978

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
Mar 16, 00:0013.6S 83.8E25 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Mar 16, 06:0013.6S 83.9E30 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Mar 16, 12:0013.7S 84.0E30 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Mar 16, 18:0013.7S 84.2E30 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Mar 17, 00:0013.8S 84.4E30 kt999 mbTropical storm
Mar 17, 06:0013.8S 84.5E35 kt996 mbTropical storm
Mar 17, 12:0013.9S 84.6E40 kt993 mbTropical storm
Mar 17, 18:0014.0S 84.8E40 kt992 mbTropical storm
Mar 18, 00:0014.0S 85.0E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Mar 18, 06:0013.8S 85.3E45 kt989 mbTropical storm
Mar 18, 12:0013.6S 85.7E50 kt987 mbTropical storm
Mar 18, 18:0013.4S 86.0E50 kt986 mbTropical storm
Mar 19, 00:0013.2S 86.5E55 kt985 mbTropical storm
Mar 19, 06:0013.1S 87.1E60 kt981 mbTropical storm
Mar 19, 12:0013.0S 87.7E65 kt977 mbTropical storm
Mar 19, 18:0013.1S 88.3E70 kt973 mbTropical storm
Mar 20, 00:0013.4S 88.9E80 kt969 mbTropical storm
Mar 20, 06:0013.8S 89.3E85 kt964 mbTropical storm
Mar 20, 12:0014.3S 89.6E90 kt958 mbTropical storm
Mar 20, 18:0014.8S 90.0E100 kt952 mbTropical storm
Mar 21, 00:0015.3S 90.5E105 kt945 mbTropical storm
Mar 21, 06:0015.5S 91.0E100 kt950 mbTropical storm
Mar 21, 12:0015.6S 91.7E95 kt956 mbTropical storm
Mar 21, 18:0015.6S 92.5E85 kt962 mbTropical storm
Mar 22, 00:0015.7S 93.3E80 kt967 mbTropical storm
Mar 22, 06:0016.0S 94.5E80 kt967 mbTropical storm
Mar 22, 12:0016.4S 95.2E80 kt967 mbTropical storm
Mar 22, 18:0017.0S 95.1E80 kt967 mbTropical storm
Mar 23, 00:0017.4S 94.9E80 kt967 mbTropical storm
Mar 23, 06:0017.3S 94.8E75 kt969 mbTropical storm
Mar 23, 12:0017.0S 94.6E70 kt973 mbTropical storm
Mar 23, 18:0016.8S 94.7E65 kt979 mbTropical storm
Mar 24, 00:0016.5S 94.9E60 kt981 mbTropical storm
Mar 24, 06:0016.3S 95.0E60 kt981 mbTropical storm
Mar 24, 12:0016.0S 94.9E60 kt981 mbTropical storm
Mar 24, 18:0016.3S 94.3E55 kt983 mbTropical storm
Mar 25, 00:0017.0S 93.7E55 kt983 mbTropical storm
Mar 25, 06:0017.5S 93.2E55 kt983 mbTropical storm
Mar 25, 12:0017.9S 92.6E55 kt984 mbTropical storm
Mar 25, 18:0018.3S 92.0E55 kt985 mbTropical storm
Mar 26, 00:0018.6S 91.4E55 kt985 mbTropical storm
Mar 26, 06:0019.2S 90.4E55 kt985 mbTropical storm
Mar 26, 12:0019.9S 89.6E55 kt986 mbTropical storm
Mar 26, 18:0020.8S 89.3E50 kt988 mbTropical storm
Mar 27, 00:0021.8S 89.1E50 kt988 mbTropical storm
Mar 27, 06:0023.0S 88.8E50 kt990 mbTropical storm
Mar 27, 12:0024.2S 88.4E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Mar 27, 18:0025.5S 87.9E45 kt992 mbTropical storm
Mar 28, 00:0027.0S 87.4E40 kt994 mbTropical storm
Mar 28, 06:0029.0S 87.3E40 kt995 mbTropical storm
Mar 28, 12:0031.5S 87.6E35 kt997 mbTropical storm
Mar 28, 18:0034.4S 88.3E30 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Mar 29, 00:0037.7S 89.5E25 kt1003 mbTropical storm

Other South Indian 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.