1972 Pacific typhoon season

An El Niño year driven by the equatorial trough

The Joint Typhoon Warning Center counted 30 named tropical cyclones in 1972, 22 of which became typhoons, above its average of 19 since 1959. Only 1962, 1964 and 1971 had produced more typhoons in that period. Typhoon days reached 121, the most of any year since 1959, reflecting several multiple-storm spells and long-lived tracks. Two of the JTWC's typhoons, Olga and Ruby, began in the central Pacific.

The site's archive counts 29 tropical storms, 21 typhoons and 13 major typhoons, with an accumulated cyclone energy of 386.3. It applies US-agency one-minute winds during the tropical stage to tracks observed in the western Pacific in 1972, so storms counted by the JTWC from its own warnings, including systems that formed east of the date line, do not all appear in the same totals. The JTWC also used a 130 kt threshold for super typhoons: it placed Rita and Betty in that class, while the archive rates only Rita at Category 5 and Betty at 135 kt, Category 4.

The JTWC tied the season's character to a pronounced equatorial trough. Monsoon westerlies reached from Southeast Asia along the equator into the central Pacific, a pattern that a consultant to the center linked to ocean warming and the early onset of a strong El Niño. Nine tropical cyclones formed east of 160°E, and Lola and Olga each developed as one half of a pair with a Southern Hemisphere storm. Only Tropical Storm Doris grew from an upper-level cell in the trade easterlies during summer and fall.

Typhoon Kit in January

Typhoon Kit grew out of a disturbance in the eastern Carolines and deepened 44 mb in 14 hours on 6 and 7 January, reaching 933 mb and 120 kt. The archive also peaks Kit at 120 kt on 7 January, making it the season's first typhoon. It was the strongest January typhoon on record. Kit weakened as it crossed the Visayas on 8 and 9 January, then drifted north and looped back to die over the Philippine Sea.

Torrential rain sent floodwaters through Leyte, where newspapers cited by the JTWC described water up to nine feet deep in Abuyog and Baybay. The JTWC recorded 204 deaths and property damage of about $23 million in US dollars of the time.

Ora blows ships ashore in Manila

Typhoon Ora crossed northern Luzon on 24 and 25 June and reached southern China on 27 June after weakening to a tropical storm. Several ocean-going ships anchored in Manila Bay were blown onto Roxas Boulevard, and a ferry capsized in the Bicol region. The JTWC counted 131 deaths, 385,000 people homeless and property damage near $15 million. Over the South China Sea, aircraft found typhoon-force winds even though Ora never formed a wall cloud.

Four storms at once, and Rita's three-week wander

In early July the equatorial trough spawned Susan, Rita, Phyllis and Tess in quick succession. The four named storms coexisted for seven straight days, which the JTWC called a longevity record for simultaneous storms, and the center issued a record 222 warnings that month. Typhoon Phyllis peaked at 120 kt and struck southeastern Japan as a tropical storm on 15 July; it caused three deaths and more than 300 landslides.

Typhoon Rita reached 145 kt on 11 July with a 20-nautical-mile eye, the season's strongest winds in both the archive and the JTWC record. On 8 July a B-52 crashed in the storm's heavy seas near Guam, and five of its six crew were rescued. Rita then stalled twice as Phyllis swung around it, grew until gales reached about 350 nautical miles from its center, and later looped near the Ryukyus in a Fujiwhara interaction with Tess. It finally raced north past Cheju Do and came ashore near Tientsin, China. The JTWC tracked Rita for 22 days, a longevity record for the western North Pacific, and issued 79 warnings on it.

Rita never crossed the Philippine coast, yet it caused the country's worst losses of the year. With Tropical Storm Susan stalled in the South China Sea, the two storms strengthened the southwest monsoon over Luzon, and Baguio recorded 18.86 inches of rain on 17 July alone. The JTWC attributed the floods to Rita, with an estimated 214 deaths and damage above $150 million. It also reported three deaths in the Ryukyus, eight in southwestern Korea and three dead or missing in Taiwan, where floods derailed a train. Later totals give Rita 229 deaths, the most of any storm that season.

Typhoon Tess traveled more than 3,100 nautical miles from the Marshall Islands, peaked at 125 kt and reached Japan on 23 July after its interaction with Rita. The JTWC listed 29 deaths and 20 missing, most of them swimmers caught in the surf. Susan's rains killed four people in Taiwan by the JTWC's count.

Betty and Helen

Typhoon Betty peaked at 135 kt on 15 August, then passed over the southern Ryukyus and north of Taiwan before striking the Chinese coast on 17 August. Its rains enhanced the monsoon in the Philippines, and floods in Taiwan stranded 300,000 people in Sanchong. The JTWC table lists 25 deaths and 4 missing; other counts give 18 deaths in Taiwan and 29 in all.

Typhoon Helen peaked at 100 kt, then accelerated northeast and came ashore near Cape Kushimoto in mid-September; it was a Category 3-equivalent typhoon at landfall. The JTWC called Helen the worst damage in Japan in several years. It reported 38 deaths in central and eastern Japan, mostly from landslides and floods, over 77,000 homes flooded and losses to roads and embankments near $102 million, plus eight dead on Hokkaido and at least two deaths from high tides in Korea. Later totals give 87 deaths across the storm's path.

Storms that crossed Indochina and a December typhoon

Typhoons Elsie and Flossie both struck Vietnam in September, kept their circulations across the Indochina peninsula and regenerated over the Bay of Bengal, where the JTWC tracked them again at typhoon strength. Typhoon Pamela struck Hong Kong in November; one person died there, while the JTWC table lists four deaths and five missing for the storm as a whole.

Typhoon Therese crossed northern Mindanao and the Visayas as a tropical storm in early December, destroying over 4,700 homes and 90 percent of crops in three provinces; the JTWC reported 90 deaths and more than $1 million in damage. It then strengthened while stalled west of Busuanga and held 90 to 100 kt winds for four days over the South China Sea, which the JTWC called rare for December. Therese reached South Vietnam near 14°N on 10 December. Tropical Storm Violet lingered near the Marshall Islands in mid-December, and the archive's last tropical-stage observation falls on 21 December.