The 1972 season

Tropical Depression Hannah (1972)

Tropical Depression Hannah peaked at 20 kt in the South Pacific between May 8, 1972 and May 12, 1972, with a lowest pressure of 970 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Depression Hannah, 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
South Pacific
Dates
May 8, 1972 to May 12, 1972
Peak strength
Tropical Depression, 20 kt (23 mph)
Lowest pressure
970 mb (28.64 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
0.0
Identifier
SH301972

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
May 8, 00:005.8S 155.4E5 ktTropical storm
May 8, 06:006.4S 154.6E5 ktTropical storm
May 8, 12:006.9S 153.8E5 ktTropical storm
May 8, 18:007.3S 152.9E5 ktTropical storm
May 9, 00:007.4S 152.0E5 ktTropical storm
May 9, 06:007.1S 151.1E10 ktTropical storm
May 9, 12:006.8S 150.3E10 ktTropical storm
May 9, 18:006.7S 152.7E10 ktTropical storm
May 10, 00:006.9S 154.4E10 ktTropical storm
May 10, 06:007.5S 154.3E10 kt970 mbTropical storm
May 10, 12:008.1S 154.2E15 ktTropical storm
May 10, 18:008.5S 154.3E15 ktTropical storm
May 11, 00:009.0S 154.3E15 ktTropical storm
May 11, 06:009.4S 151.7E15 ktTropical storm
May 11, 12:009.9S 150.2E15 ktTropical storm
May 11, 18:0010.3S 150.6E15 ktTropical storm
May 12, 00:0010.8S 150.9E20 ktTropical storm
May 12, 06:0011.6S 151.2E20 ktTropical 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.