Cyclone Yolande (1972)

Basin

South Pacific

Dates

March 17, 1972 to March 24, 1972

Peak strength

Cyclone, 70 kt (81 mph), ten-minute wind

Lowest pressure

965 mb (28.50 inHg)

Landfall

No; closest approach 24 km (15 mi)

Accumulated cyclone energy

3.4

Identifier

SH241972

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.

• Unnamed tropical stormSouth Pacific · 1972Tropical Storm55 kt · 980 mb
• Cyclone UrsulaSouth Pacific · 1972Cyclone70 kt · 965 mb
• Tropical Storm KittySouth Pacific · 1972Tropical Storm35 kt · 1000 mb
• Tropical Storm VivienneSouth Pacific · 1972Tropical Storm40 kt · 990 mb
• Cyclone AltheaSouth Pacific · 1972Cat 165 kt · 952 mb
• Tropical Storm BronwynSouth Pacific · 1972Tropical Storm35 kt · 993 mb
• Cyclone CarlottaSouth Pacific · 1972Cat 165 kt · 945 mb
• Unnamed tropical stormSouth Pacific · 1972Tropical Storm40 kt · 990 mb
• Cyclone WendySouth Pacific · 1972Cat 4120 kt · 945 mb
• Cyclone DaisySouth Pacific · 1972Cat 180 kt · 959 mb
• Cyclone AgathaSouth Pacific · 1972Cyclone70 kt · 965 mb
• Cyclone EmilySouth Pacific · 1972Cat 165 kt · 942 mb
• Tropical Storm FaithSouth Pacific · 1972Tropical Storm35 kt · 990 mb
• Cyclone GailSouth Pacific · 1972Cat 165 kt · 945 mb
• Tropical Depression HannahSouth Pacific · 1972Tropical Depression20 kt · 970 mb
• Tropical Storm IdaSouth Pacific · 1972Tropical Storm50 kt · 965 mb

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. This storm’s winds are ten-minute averages from its regional agency. They read about 12 percent lower than the one-minute winds US agencies use, so a Saffir-Simpson category is not given for it.

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.