The 1972 season

Tropical Storm Kathy (1972)

Tropical Storm Kathy peaked at 60 kt in the Western Pacific between September 27, 1972 and October 9, 1972, with a lowest pressure of 980 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Kathy, 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
Western Pacific
Dates
September 27, 1972 to October 9, 1972
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 60 kt (69 mph)
Lowest pressure
980 mb (28.94 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
8.7
Identifier
WP231972

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
Sep 27, 18:0011.9N 166.9E1004 mbTropical storm
Sep 28, 00:0012.2N 166.2E1004 mbTropical storm
Sep 28, 06:0012.4N 165.5E1002 mbTropical storm
Sep 28, 12:0012.6N 164.8E1002 mbTropical storm
Sep 28, 18:0012.9N 164.2E1002 mbTropical storm
Sep 29, 00:0013.3N 163.4E1002 mbTropical storm
Sep 29, 06:0013.5N 162.6E1002 mbMixed
Sep 29, 12:0013.5N 161.8E1002 mbMixed
Sep 29, 18:0013.8N 160.8E1000 mbMixed
Sep 30, 00:0014.8N 160.0E25 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Sep 30, 06:0015.2N 158.9E30 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Sep 30, 12:0015.8N 157.8E35 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Sep 30, 18:0016.1N 156.7E40 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Oct 1, 00:0016.3N 155.5E50 kt990 mbTropical storm
Oct 1, 06:0016.8N 154.3E50 kt990 mbTropical storm
Oct 1, 12:0017.6N 153.1E50 kt990 mbTropical storm
Oct 1, 18:0018.7N 151.9E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Oct 2, 00:0020.1N 150.5E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Oct 2, 06:0020.4N 148.3E55 kt985 mbTropical storm
Oct 2, 12:0020.4N 147.1E60 kt985 mbTropical storm
Oct 2, 18:0020.4N 146.3E55 kt985 mbTropical storm
Oct 3, 00:0020.5N 145.8E55 kt980 mbTropical storm
Oct 3, 06:0020.7N 145.0E60 kt980 mbTropical storm
Oct 3, 12:0020.8N 144.0E60 kt980 mbTropical storm
Oct 3, 18:0020.8N 142.6E60 kt985 mbTropical storm
Oct 4, 00:0020.9N 141.5E60 kt990 mbTropical storm
Oct 4, 06:0021.5N 139.5E60 kt990 mbTropical storm
Oct 4, 12:0022.8N 137.9E60 kt990 mbTropical storm
Oct 4, 18:0023.5N 136.8E60 kt990 mbTropical storm
Oct 5, 00:0026.2N 135.5E60 kt990 mbTropical storm
Oct 5, 06:0027.5N 136.4E50 kt990 mbTropical storm
Oct 5, 12:0028.5N 137.1E50 kt990 mbTropical storm
Oct 5, 18:0030.0N 137.8E50 kt990 mbTropical storm
Oct 6, 00:0031.0N 138.8E50 kt985 mbTropical storm
Oct 6, 06:0033.0N 141.2E55 kt985 mbTropical storm
Oct 6, 12:0035.5N 144.2E55 kt990 mbTropical storm
Oct 6, 18:0037.5N 147.5E50 kt994 mbMixed
Oct 7, 00:0040.2N 152.0E50 kt994 mbMixed
Oct 7, 06:0042.6N 157.0E45 kt996 mbMixed
Oct 7, 12:0045.0N 162.0E45 kt994 mbMixed
Oct 7, 18:0047.5N 167.5E40 kt992 mbMixed
Oct 8, 00:0050.0N 172.0E40 kt992 mbMixed
Oct 8, 06:0053.0N 175.0E35 kt992 mbMixed
Oct 8, 12:0056.0N 178.0E35 kt988 mbMixed
Oct 8, 18:0059.4N 179.9E984 mbExtratropical
Oct 9, 00:0063.0N 179.0E984 mbExtratropical

Other Western 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.