The 1972 season

Hurricane Celeste (1972)

Hurricane Celeste reached Category 4 in the Eastern Pacific between August 6, 1972 and August 22, 1972, with a lowest pressure of 940 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Hurricane Celeste, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1972 season in the same basin behind it, and its wind and pressure hour by hour. Every fix is in the track table below.

Open the live map with storms, cones and warnings

The storm

Basin
Eastern Pacific
Dates
August 6, 1972 to August 22, 1972
Peak strength
Category 4, 115 kt (132 mph)
Lowest pressure
940 mb (27.76 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 648 km (403 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
36.5
Fastest the center moved
19 kt (22 mph)
Identifier
EP031972

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
Aug 6, 00:0015.2N 119.8W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 6, 06:0015.1N 120.0W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 6, 12:0015.0N 120.2W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 6, 18:0014.9N 120.3W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 7, 00:0014.7N 120.5W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 7, 06:0014.3N 120.7W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 7, 12:0013.8N 120.8W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 7, 18:0013.5N 120.5W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 8, 00:0013.3N 120.4W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 8, 06:0013.6N 121.7W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 8, 12:0014.1N 122.9W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 8, 18:0014.3N 123.8W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 9, 00:0014.4N 124.7W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 9, 06:0014.5N 125.9W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 9, 12:0014.5N 127.1W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 9, 18:0014.6N 128.4W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 10, 00:0014.7N 129.7W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 10, 06:0015.1N 131.5W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 10, 12:0015.5N 133.3W60 ktTropical storm
Aug 10, 18:0015.7N 134.2W70 ktHurricane
Aug 11, 00:0015.8N 135.2W70 ktHurricane
Aug 11, 06:0015.7N 136.4W70 ktHurricane
Aug 11, 12:0015.4N 137.5W75 ktHurricane
Aug 11, 18:0015.0N 138.3W75 ktHurricane
Aug 12, 00:0014.6N 139.0W80 ktHurricane
Aug 12, 06:0014.2N 139.7W80 ktHurricane
Aug 12, 12:0013.8N 140.4W85 ktHurricane
Aug 12, 18:0013.6N 141.4W85 ktHurricane
Aug 13, 00:0013.5N 142.6W85 ktHurricane
Aug 13, 06:0013.3N 143.9W90 ktHurricane
Aug 13, 12:0013.1N 145.1W90 ktHurricane
Aug 13, 18:0013.1N 146.2W90 ktHurricane
Aug 14, 00:0013.1N 147.4W95 ktHurricane
Aug 14, 06:0013.0N 148.7W115 ktHurricane
Aug 14, 12:0012.8N 150.0W115 kt944 mbHurricane
Aug 14, 18:0012.7N 151.2W100 kt940 mbHurricane
Aug 15, 00:0012.6N 152.4W100 kt940 mbHurricane
Aug 15, 06:0012.6N 153.8W100 kt940 mbHurricane
Aug 15, 12:0012.7N 155.2W100 kt940 mbHurricane
Aug 15, 18:0013.0N 156.4W100 ktHurricane
Aug 16, 00:0013.3N 157.4W90 ktHurricane
Aug 16, 06:0013.4N 158.1W90 ktHurricane
Aug 16, 12:0013.6N 158.8W90 ktHurricane
Aug 16, 18:0013.9N 159.6W90 kt960 mbHurricane
Aug 17, 00:0014.3N 160.4W85 ktHurricane
Aug 17, 06:0014.6N 161.3W85 ktHurricane
Aug 17, 12:0014.8N 162.2W85 ktHurricane
Aug 17, 18:0015.1N 163.0W85 ktHurricane
Aug 18, 00:0015.4N 163.8W85 ktHurricane
Aug 18, 06:0015.6N 164.8W85 ktHurricane
Aug 18, 12:0015.8N 165.9W85 ktHurricane
Aug 18, 18:0015.9N 166.9W85 ktHurricane
Aug 19, 00:0016.1N 167.8W85 ktHurricane
Aug 19, 06:0016.3N 168.3W85 ktHurricane
Aug 19, 12:0016.7N 168.7W85 ktHurricane
Aug 19, 18:0017.2N 169.2W80 ktHurricane
Aug 20, 00:0017.8N 169.7W80 ktHurricane
Aug 20, 06:0018.5N 170.2W80 ktHurricane
Aug 20, 12:0019.1N 170.6W80 ktHurricane
Aug 20, 18:0019.7N 171.2W80 ktHurricane
Aug 21, 00:0020.3N 171.8W80 ktHurricane
Aug 21, 06:0020.9N 172.3W80 ktHurricane
Aug 21, 12:0021.4N 172.6W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 21, 18:0021.7N 172.8W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 22, 00:0021.9N 173.0W35 ktTropical storm
Aug 22, 06:0021.9N 173.5W35 ktTropical storm

Other Eastern Pacific storms of 1972

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.