Storms of 1978

Ella | Kendra

Ella’s formation occurred over the central North Atlantic Ocean. On August 28, 1978, there was a cyclonic turning of low-cloud elements 925 kilometres southeast of Bermuda. Early on August 30, ship and satellite date determined that a tropical depression had formed. The depression headed toward the west-northwest, and reached tropical storm intensity later on the same day. Ella was upgraded to a hurricane on the 31^st, while located 925 kilometres southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Ella continued toward the west-northwest and gained strength. By September 2, Ella’s motion decreased to a very slow northward drift. On the 3^rd, however, Ella began accelerating toward the northeast. The storm passed very close to the southeast tip of Newfoundland and became extratropical as it combined with a frontal system over the North Atlantic.

A depression developed just east of the Bahamas on the afternoon of October 28, 1978. This depression was named Tropical Storm Kendra early on the 29^th. Kendra reached hurricane status by the afternoon of the 29^th. There was little change in strength during the next 24 hours as the hurricane moved north-northeastward. By late on the 30^th, however, Kendra encountered strong upper level westerlies. Weakening ensued and Kendra was downgraded to a tropical storm on October 31. A few hours later, surface winds had decreased to below gale force, but Kendra persisted and accelerated northeastward. In the end, another extratropical low over the northeast North Atlantic finally absorbed the system .

Significant damage from Kendra was restricted to the pre-depression stage, which produced heavy rains over Puerto Rico. There was one death reported and newspaper reports listed damages at about $6 million, all water-related.