The origins of Alice were traced back to a tropical disturbance over the Gilbert Islands on December 27, 1978, during a climatologically unfavorable time for tropical cyclone formation.
The disturbance was segmented into two components directly north and south of the equator.
Initially, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) believed that the disturbance's placement near the equator meant further storm development was unlikely.
However, the system progressively organized and was classified as a tropical depression by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) by 12:00 UTC on December 31.
The JTWC followed suit in the upgrade twelve hours later, and soon after declared a tropical cyclone formation alert at 03:00 UTC on January 1, 1979.
Tracking towards the northwest, atmospheric conditions became more favorable for intensification farther from the equator.
The tropical depression became sufficiently organized to be named Tropical Storm Alice by the JTWC at 18:00 UTC that day.
Over the next several days, Alice meandered through the Marshall Islands without much change in strength, steered by a transient shortwave trough.

The trough's influence soon abated, allowing a nearby ridge of high pressure to restrengthen and induce a westerly bearing to Alice's motion that would continue for five days.
Alice strengthened into a typhoon on January 6 and continued to intensify thereafter, reaching a peak intensity on January 8 with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph (205 km/h) and a minimum central pressure of 930 mbar (hPa; 27.46 inHg).
Concurrently, the typhoon accelerated to a forward speed of 16 mph (26 km/h) and began to weaken.
An area of wind shear southeast of Guam, described by the JTWC as a "frontal shear-line", slowed Alice's movement on January 9.
A region of cooler and drier air north of this region was entrained also into the storm, causing Alice to lose some organization and weaken further.
Two days later, a second trough over eastern Asia resulted in Alice curving north.
During this trek, the typhoon restrengthened and reached a secondary peak intensity with winds of 115 mph (185 km/h) on January 11, with satellite imagery indicating robust outflow.
However, this second peak was short-lived as Alice's circulation began to vertically decouple in the face of strong wind shear, exacerbated by Alice's low-level circulation  moving directly into the westerly wind flow aloft.
The typhoon degenerated into a tropical storm on January 13 and weakened further into a tropical depression 18 hours later; these remnants dissipated by January 15.
The origins of Alice were traced back to a tropical disturbance over the Gilbert Islands on December 27, 1978, during a climatologically unfavorable time for tropical cyclone formation. The disturbance was segmented into two components directly north and south of the equator. Initially, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) believed that the disturbance's placement near the equator meant further storm development was unlikely. However, the system progressively organized and was classified as a tropical depression by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) by 12:00 UTC on December 31. The JTWC followed suit in the upgrade twelve hours later, and soon after declared a tropical cyclone formation alert at 03:00 UTC on January 1, 1979. Tracking towards the northwest, atmospheric conditions became more favorable for intensification farther from the equator. The tropical depression became sufficiently organized to be named Tropical Storm Alice by the JTWC at 18:00 UTC that day. Over the next several days, Alice meandered through the Marshall Islands without much change in strength, steered by a transient shortwave trough.
The trough's influence soon abated, allowing a nearby ridge of high pressure to restrengthen and induce a westerly bearing to Alice's motion that would continue for five days. Alice strengthened into a typhoon on January 6 and continued to intensify thereafter, reaching a peak intensity on January 8 with maximum sustained winds of 125 mph (205 km/h) and a minimum central pressure of 930 mbar (hPa; 27.46 inHg). Concurrently, the typhoon accelerated to a forward speed of 16 mph (26 km/h) and began to weaken. An area of wind shear southeast of Guam, described by the JTWC as a "frontal shear-line", slowed Alice's movement on January 9. A region of cooler and drier air north of this region was entrained also into the storm, causing Alice to lose some organization and weaken further. Two days later, a second trough over eastern Asia resulted in Alice curving north. During this trek, the typhoon restrengthened and reached a secondary peak intensity with winds of 115 mph (185 km/h) on January 11, with satellite imagery indicating robust outflow. However, this second peak was short-lived as Alice's circulation began to vertically decouple in the face of strong wind shear, exacerbated by Alice's low-level circulation  moving directly into the westerly wind flow aloft. The typhoon degenerated into a tropical storm on January 13 and weakened further into a tropical depression 18 hours later; these remnants dissipated by January 15.
Typhoon Alice (1979)