The 1972 season

Tropical Storm Gigi:Tessie (1972)

Tropical Storm Gigi:Tessie peaked at 40 kt in the South Indian between February 20, 1972 and March 1, 1972, with a lowest pressure of 950 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Gigi:Tessie, 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 Indian
Dates
February 20, 1972 to March 1, 1972
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 40 kt (46 mph)
Lowest pressure
950 mb (28.05 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 336 km (209 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
0.2
Identifier
SH191972

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
Feb 20, 00:0011.8S 115.1E40 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Feb 20, 06:0012.4S 113.5E30 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Feb 20, 12:0013.0S 111.9E25 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Feb 20, 18:0013.5S 110.4E20 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Feb 21, 00:0014.0S 109.0E20 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Feb 21, 06:0014.5S 108.0E20 kt994 mbTropical storm
Feb 21, 12:0014.9S 107.1E25 kt986 mbTropical storm
Feb 21, 18:0015.3S 106.4E25 kt978 mbTropical storm
Feb 22, 00:0015.7S 105.6E30 kt970 mbTropical storm
Feb 22, 06:0016.3S 104.2E30 kt967 mbTropical storm
Feb 22, 12:0016.9S 102.2E25 kt965 mbTropical storm
Feb 22, 18:0017.3S 99.7E25 kt965 mbTropical storm
Feb 23, 00:0017.7S 97.3E25 kt965 mbTropical storm
Feb 23, 06:0018.1S 95.4E25 kt963 mbTropical storm
Feb 23, 12:0018.4S 93.6E25 kt958 mbTropical storm
Feb 23, 18:0018.6S 91.6E954 mbTropical storm
Feb 24, 00:0019.2S 90.0E950 mbTropical storm
Feb 24, 06:0020.2S 89.4E958 mbTropical storm
Feb 24, 12:0021.2S 89.1E966 mbTropical storm
Feb 24, 18:0022.2S 88.7E974 mbTropical storm
Feb 25, 00:0023.2S 88.3E980 mbTropical storm
Feb 25, 06:0022.7S 86.2E984 mbTropical storm
Feb 25, 12:0023.5S 85.4E988 mbTropical storm
Feb 25, 18:0024.3S 84.4E992 mbTropical storm
Feb 26, 00:0025.2S 83.4E996 mbTropical storm
Feb 26, 06:0026.1S 82.3E996 mbMixed
Feb 26, 12:0027.1S 81.1E997 mbMixed
Feb 26, 18:0028.2S 79.9E998 mbMixed
Feb 27, 00:0029.2S 78.7EMixed
Feb 27, 06:0030.1S 78.0EMixed
Feb 27, 12:0029.4S 77.5EExtratropical
Feb 27, 18:0030.0S 76.8EExtratropical
Feb 28, 00:0030.4S 76.0EExtratropical
Feb 28, 06:0031.0S 75.0EExtratropical
Feb 28, 12:0031.1S 74.2EExtratropical
Feb 28, 18:0031.3S 73.5EExtratropical
Feb 29, 00:0031.4S 72.8EExtratropical
Feb 29, 06:0031.9S 72.0EExtratropical
Feb 29, 12:0032.5S 72.1EExtratropical
Feb 29, 18:0033.4S 72.6EExtratropical
Mar 1, 00:0034.0S 73.2EExtratropical
Mar 1, 06:0035.0S 74.0EMixed

Other South Indian 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.