The 1972 season

Tropical Storm Ida (1972)

Tropical Storm Ida peaked at 50 kt in the South Pacific between May 29, 1972 and June 5, 1972, with a lowest pressure of 965 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Ida, 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
May 29, 1972 to June 5, 1972
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 50 kt (58 mph)
Lowest pressure
965 mb (28.50 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
2.0
Identifier
SH311972

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 29, 18:005.1S 156.4E25 ktTropical storm
May 30, 00:005.6S 156.5E30 ktTropical storm
May 30, 06:006.1S 156.6E30 ktTropical storm
May 30, 12:006.5S 156.8E25 ktTropical storm
May 30, 18:006.9S 157.2E25 ktTropical storm
May 31, 00:007.1S 157.7E30 ktTropical storm
May 31, 06:007.4S 158.3E30 ktTropical storm
May 31, 12:007.7S 159.0E25 ktTropical storm
May 31, 18:008.2S 159.6E20 ktTropical storm
Jun 1, 00:008.8S 160.2E40 kt980 mbTropical storm
Jun 1, 06:009.7S 160.7E50 ktTropical storm
Jun 1, 12:0010.9S 161.0E30 kt980 mbTropical storm
Jun 1, 18:0012.6S 161.3E20 ktTropical storm
Jun 2, 00:0014.8S 161.8E25 kt980 mbTropical storm
Jun 2, 06:0016.7S 162.5E25 ktTropical storm
Jun 2, 12:0017.9S 163.4E30 kt980 mbTropical storm
Jun 2, 18:0019.2S 164.8E30 ktTropical storm
Jun 3, 00:0020.7S 166.5E30 kt970 mbTropical storm
Jun 3, 06:0022.3S 168.3E35 ktTropical storm
Jun 3, 12:0024.1S 170.1E35 kt965 mbTropical storm
Jun 3, 18:0025.7S 171.9E35 ktTropical storm
Jun 4, 00:0026.7S 173.5E40 kt980 mbTropical storm
Jun 4, 06:0026.9S 175.1E40 ktTropical storm
Jun 4, 12:0026.9S 176.8E40 kt980 mbTropical storm
Jun 4, 18:0026.8S 178.4E40 ktTropical storm
Jun 5, 00:0026.6S 178.8E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Jun 5, 06:0026.2S 177.9E45 ktTropical storm
Jun 5, 12:0025.7S 176.0E45 kt990 mbTropical 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.