The 1972 season

Cyclone Emily (1972)

Cyclone Emily reached Category 1 in the South Pacific between March 28, 1972 and April 4, 1972, with a lowest pressure of 942 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Cyclone Emily, 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.

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The storm

Basin
South Pacific
Dates
March 28, 1972 to April 4, 1972
Peak strength
Category 1, 65 kt (75 mph)
Lowest pressure
942 mb (27.82 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
3.6
Identifier
SH271972

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 28, 00:0011.1S 157.6E30 ktTropical storm
Mar 28, 06:0011.8S 158.2E25 ktTropical storm
Mar 28, 12:0012.1S 158.6E25 ktTropical storm
Mar 28, 18:0012.3S 158.8E20 ktTropical storm
Mar 29, 00:0012.5S 159.0E20 ktTropical storm
Mar 29, 06:0012.8S 159.1E20 ktTropical storm
Mar 29, 12:0013.0S 159.2E20 ktTropical storm
Mar 29, 18:0013.2S 159.3E25 ktTropical storm
Mar 30, 00:0013.6S 159.2E30 ktTropical storm
Mar 30, 06:0014.3S 158.9E35 ktTropical storm
Mar 30, 12:0015.1S 158.6E40 ktTropical storm
Mar 30, 18:0015.9S 158.3E35 ktTropical storm
Mar 31, 00:0016.6S 157.9E35 ktTropical storm
Mar 31, 06:0017.5S 157.0E35 ktTropical storm
Mar 31, 12:0018.4S 155.9E40 ktTropical storm
Mar 31, 18:0019.3S 155.0E55 ktTropical storm
Apr 1, 00:0020.2S 154.0E65 ktTropical storm
Apr 1, 06:0021.1S 153.3E60 ktTropical storm
Apr 1, 12:0021.9S 152.7E55 ktTropical storm
Apr 1, 18:0022.7S 152.1E60 ktTropical storm
Apr 2, 00:0023.4S 151.6E60 ktTropical storm
Apr 2, 06:0024.3S 151.3E50 ktTropical storm
Apr 2, 12:0025.4S 151.2E40 ktTropical storm
Apr 2, 18:0027.2S 152.5E40 ktTropical storm
Apr 3, 00:0028.9S 153.1E40 ktTropical storm
Apr 3, 06:0029.1S 152.7E30 ktTropical storm
Apr 3, 12:0029.7S 152.3E20 ktTropical storm
Apr 3, 18:0031.4S 152.0E15 ktTropical storm
Apr 4, 00:0033.9S 152.9ETropical storm

Other South 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.