1972 Western Pacific typhoon season
Typhoon Rita 1972
Typhoon Rita spent much of July 1972 wandering across the western Pacific and East China Sea. Interactions with other typhoons repeatedly changed its course, producing an unusually long history of stalls, loops and renewed strengthening.
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167 mph
Jul 11, 1972 during the tropical stage
Full archive record, including non-tropical stages if present
Along the recorded center positions
STORM HISTORY
A powerful peak followed by changing tracks
Rita developed southeast of Guam and strengthened while moving west and northwest. The archive records peak one-minute winds of 145 kt on 11 July. It then weakened sharply as the upper-level airflow that had supported its development changed.
Nearby Typhoon Phyllis influenced Rita's motion, slowing it and helping turn it northeast. The two circulations interacted through the Fujiwhara effect, in which nearby cyclones rotate around a shared center. Rita stalled again as Phyllis moved toward Japan.
A broad circulation and a Ryukyu loop
Rita regained some strength and expanded dramatically. By 18 July, gale-force winds covered an area roughly 1,290 km across. It passed through the Ryukyus near Amami Oshima on 20 July, then turned southwest over the East China Sea under the influence of another nearby typhoon, Tess.
A loop carried Rita back near Miyako-jima and Okinawa before it accelerated north toward Jeju and the Yellow Sea. The weakening system subsequently reached northern China, with remnants persisting through 30 July. The saved historical account attributes 377 direct and indirect deaths to Rita's effects across several countries, including flood and disease deaths in the Philippines.
Further reading
QUICK ANSWERS
Rita in brief
What was Typhoon Rita's highest wind speed?
167 mph, the highest one-minute sustained wind in its tropical stage, recorded on Jul 11, 1972, 12:00 AM UTC.
What category was Typhoon Rita?
Category 5 at its peak on the Saffir–Simpson one-minute wind scale, first reaching Category 5 on Jul 10, 1972, 09:00 AM UTC. Other agencies classify storms differently.
What was Typhoon Rita's lowest pressure?
910 mb, the minimum central pressure recorded during its tropical stage, on Jul 11, 1972, 12:00 AM UTC.
When did Typhoon Rita occur?
The archived track runs from Jul 5, 1972, 12:00 AM UTC to Jul 30, 1972, 12:00 AM UTC, with the tropical stage from Jul 6, 1972, 12:00 PM UTC to Jul 26, 1972, 09:00 AM UTC.
Where did Typhoon Rita form?
In the Western Pacific basin, in the 1972 season. Its first archived position is 9.5°N, 150.5°E on Jul 5, 1972, 12:00 AM UTC.
Did Typhoon Rita make landfall?
No archived position places Typhoon Rita's center over land, but positions are six-hourly and a brief landfall can fall between them.
METHODOLOGY
Data sources and limitations
The map and summary are generated from NOAA's IBTrACS v04r01 archive. Wind and category use US-agency records; minimum pressure is calculated during the tropical stage, with the archive's pressure source retained. Category 5 refers to the Saffir–Simpson one-minute wind scale; local agencies may use different classifications. Coastlines use Natural Earth's 1:10m land data.
Track distance adds great-circle distances between consecutive observations, excluding gaps over 12 hours. This track has no gaps over 12 hours. The line shows the storm's center, not its size, rainfall or flood extent. Converted wind speeds are rounded to the nearest whole unit.
Archive retrieved
NOAA IBTrACS archive and Field documentation
Sources & methodology