Track map & timeline · Eastern Pacific · August 30 – September 7, 1978
TD TS Cat 1 2 3 4 5 · dashed = post-tropical / remnant low. Click any point or table row to jump there.
01 · The story
Hurricane Norman (1978) was a Category 4 hurricane of the 1978 Eastern Pacific season. It formed on August 30, 1978, 221 mi SSW of Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, Mexico, reached its peak of 138 mph (222 km/h) on September 3, 1978, and never made landfall. It rapidly intensified by 57 mph in 24 hours (to 132 mph on September 2, 1978). The storm lasted 7.3 days and travelled about 2,435 miles (3,918 km).
02 · Intensity
03 · Impact
| City | Distance to center | When (UTC) | Storm strength then |
|---|---|---|---|
| San Diego, California | 69 mi | Sep 6 · 06:00 UTC | TD 29 mph |
| Irvine, California | 20 mi | Sep 6 · 14:00 UTC | TD 23 mph |
| Long Beach, California | direct hit | Sep 6 · 15:00 UTC | TD 23 mph |
| Santa Ana, California | 17 mi | Sep 6 · 15:00 UTC | TD 23 mph |
| Anaheim, California | 13 mi | Sep 6 · 16:00 UTC | TD 23 mph |
| Los Angeles, California | direct hit | Sep 6 · 17:00 UTC | TD 23 mph |
| Riverside, California | 41 mi | Sep 6 · 17:00 UTC | TD 23 mph |
| Oxnard, California | 62 mi | Sep 6 · 18:00 UTC | TD 23 mph |
| San Bernardino, California | 45 mi | Sep 6 · 20:00 UTC | TD 23 mph |
| Fontana, California | 37 mi | Sep 6 · 20:00 UTC | TD 23 mph |
Distance from the city to the storm’s center, interpolated hourly between official fixes. Damaging winds, surge and rain reach far beyond the center.
04 · Timeline
| Date · UTC | Status | Wind | Pressure | Position | Nearest place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 30 18:00 | TD | 35 mph | — | 12.8°N 98.0°W | open ocean |
| Aug 31 00:00 | TS | 46 mph | — | 12.8°N 98.8°W | open ocean |
| Aug 31 06:00 | TS | 46 mph | — | 12.9°N 99.6°W | open ocean |
| Aug 31 12:00 | TS | 40 mph | — | 13.3°N 100.2°W | open ocean |
| Aug 31 18:00 | TS | 58 mph | — | 13.9°N 100.9°W | open ocean |
| Sep 1 00:00 | TS | 63 mph | — | 14.3°N 101.8°W | open ocean |
| Sep 1 06:00 | Cat 1 | 75 mph | — | 14.6°N 103.0°W | open ocean |
| Sep 1 12:00 | Cat 1 | 75 mph | — | 15.1°N 104.6°W | open ocean |
| Sep 1 18:00 | Cat 1 | 86 mph | — | 16.1°N 105.8°W | open ocean |
| Sep 2 00:00 | Cat 2 | 109 mph | — | 16.8°N 106.9°W | open ocean |
| Sep 2 06:00 | Cat 4 | 132 mph | — | 17.5°N 108.2°W | open ocean |
| Sep 2 12:00 | Cat 4 | 132 mph | — | 18.2°N 109.6°W | open ocean |
| Sep 2 18:00 | Cat 4 | 132 mph | — | 19.0°N 111.0°W | open ocean |
| Sep 3 00:00 | Cat 4 | 138 mph | — | 19.8°N 112.4°W | open ocean |
| Sep 3 06:00 | Cat 4 | 132 mph | — | 20.3°N 113.9°W | open ocean |
| Sep 3 12:00 | Cat 4 | 132 mph | — | 20.9°N 115.4°W | open ocean |
| Sep 3 18:00 | Cat 3 | 127 mph | — | 21.8°N 116.6°W | open ocean |
| Sep 4 00:00 | Cat 1 | 86 mph | — | 22.5°N 117.9°W | open ocean |
| Sep 4 06:00 | Cat 1 | 81 mph | — | 23.2°N 119.2°W | open ocean |
| Sep 4 12:00 | Cat 1 | 75 mph | — | 24.0°N 120.3°W | open ocean |
| Sep 4 18:00 | TS | 58 mph | — | 25.3°N 120.7°W | open ocean |
| Sep 5 00:00 | TS | 52 mph | — | 26.6°N 120.5°W | open ocean |
| Sep 5 06:00 | TS | 46 mph | — | 28.0°N 120.4°W | open ocean |
| Sep 5 12:00 | TS | 40 mph | — | 29.4°N 119.9°W | open ocean |
| Sep 5 18:00 | TD | 35 mph | — | 30.7°N 119.1°W | 168 mi WSW of Ensenada, Baja California, Mexico |
| Sep 6 00:00 | TD | 35 mph | — | 32.5°N 118.5°W | 79 mi W of San Diego, California |
| Sep 6 06:00 | TD extratropical | 29 mph | — | 33.0°N 118.3°W | 49 mi SSW of Huntington Beach, California |
| Sep 6 12:00 | TD extratropical | 23 mph | — | 33.5°N 118.2°W | 16 mi SW of Huntington Beach, California |
| Sep 6 18:00 | TD extratropical | 23 mph | — | 34.1°N 118.1°W | near Los Angeles, California |
| Sep 7 00:00 | TD extratropical | 23 mph | — | 34.5°N 118.0°W | near Palmdale, California |
⬇ Download track data (CSV) · public-domain NOAA best track
Questions
No — the NOAA best-track record shows no landfall for Norman. Its closest approach to a major city was 3 miles from Long Beach, California.
At its peak on September 3, 1978, Norman was a Category 4 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 138 mph (222 km/h).
7.3 days, from August 30, 1978 to September 7, 1978, including 84 hours at hurricane strength (42 as a major hurricane). It travelled about 2,435 miles.
The 6-hourly positions, winds, pressure and wind radii are available as CSV on this page (track.csv) — they come from the NOAA National Hurricane Center's HURDAT2 database and are in the public domain.
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