Track map & timeline · Central Pacific · November 11–20, 1972
TD TS Cat 1 2 3 4 5 · dashed = post-tropical / remnant low. Click any point or table row to jump there.
01 · The story
Hurricane Ruby (1972) was a Category 3 hurricane of the 1972 Central Pacific season. It formed on November 11, 1972, reached its peak of 127 mph (204 km/h) and a minimum pressure of 944 mb on November 16, 1972, and never made landfall. It rapidly intensified by 41 mph in 24 hours (to 127 mph on November 16, 1972). The storm lasted 9.0 days and travelled about 2,445 miles (3,935 km).
02 · Intensity
03 · Impact
| City | Distance to center | When (UTC) | Storm strength then |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso | 60 mi | Nov 14 · 09:00 UTC | TS 63 mph |
Distance from the city to the storm’s center, interpolated hourly between official fixes. Damaging winds, surge and rain reach far beyond the center.
04 · Timeline
| Date · UTC | Status | Wind | Pressure | Position | Nearest place |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 11 00:00 | TD | 29 mph | — | 5.0°N 175.0°W | open ocean |
| Nov 11 06:00 | TD | 29 mph | — | 5.7°N 175.6°W | open ocean |
| Nov 11 12:00 | TD | 29 mph | — | 6.2°N 176.2°W | open ocean |
| Nov 11 18:00 | TD | 29 mph | — | 6.9°N 176.7°W | open ocean |
| Nov 12 00:00 | TD | 29 mph | — | 7.5°N 177.0°W | open ocean |
| Nov 12 06:00 | TD | 29 mph | — | 8.0°N 177.2°W | open ocean |
| Nov 12 12:00 | TD | 29 mph | — | 8.7°N 177.3°W | open ocean |
| Nov 12 18:00 | TD | 29 mph | — | 9.3°N 177.6°W | open ocean |
| Nov 13 00:00 | TD | 29 mph | — | 9.7°N 177.7°W | open ocean |
| Nov 13 06:00 | TS | 52 mph | — | 10.4°N 177.8°W | open ocean |
| Nov 13 12:00 | TS | 52 mph | — | 11.2°N 178.0°W | open ocean |
| Nov 13 18:00 | TS | 52 mph | — | 11.8°N 178.2°W | open ocean |
| Nov 14 00:00 | TS | 52 mph | — | 12.2°N 178.5°W | open ocean |
| Nov 14 06:00 | TS | 52 mph | — | 12.4°N 180.0°W | open ocean |
| Nov 14 12:00 | Cat 1 | 75 mph | — | 12.3°N 178.7°E | open ocean |
| Nov 14 18:00 | Cat 1 | 86 mph | — | 12.7°N 177.8°E | open ocean |
| Nov 15 00:00 | Cat 1 | 86 mph | — | 13.3°N 176.2°E | open ocean |
| Nov 15 06:00 | Cat 1 | 86 mph | — | 13.7°N 175.5°E | open ocean |
| Nov 15 12:00 | Cat 1 | 86 mph | — | 14.0°N 174.5°E | open ocean |
| Nov 15 18:00 | Cat 1 | 86 mph | — | 14.3°N 173.2°E | open ocean |
| Nov 16 00:00 | Cat 2 | 104 mph | — | 14.5°N 172.2°E | open ocean |
| Nov 16 06:00 | Cat 3 | 115 mph | — | 14.9°N 171.5°E | open ocean |
| Nov 16 12:00 | Cat 3 | 127 mph | 944 mb | 15.2°N 170.7°E | open ocean |
| Nov 16 18:00 | Cat 3 | 127 mph | — | 15.5°N 169.9°E | open ocean |
| Nov 17 00:00 | Cat 3 | 127 mph | — | 15.7°N 168.8°E | open ocean |
| Nov 17 06:00 | Cat 3 | 115 mph | — | 16.0°N 167.6°E | open ocean |
| Nov 17 12:00 | Cat 3 | 115 mph | 983 mb | 16.3°N 165.9°E | open ocean |
| Nov 17 18:00 | Cat 2 | 104 mph | — | 16.0°N 164.1°E | open ocean |
| Nov 18 00:00 | Cat 1 | 81 mph | — | 15.7°N 162.6°E | open ocean |
| Nov 18 06:00 | Cat 1 | 75 mph | — | 15.4°N 161.5°E | open ocean |
| Nov 18 12:00 | TS | 69 mph | — | 15.4°N 160.5°E | open ocean |
| Nov 18 18:00 | TS | 63 mph | — | 15.6°N 159.5°E | open ocean |
| Nov 19 00:00 | TS | 52 mph | — | 15.8°N 158.7°E | open ocean |
| Nov 19 06:00 | TS | 52 mph | — | 16.1°N 156.7°E | open ocean |
| Nov 19 12:00 | TS | 40 mph | — | 16.3°N 156.0°E | open ocean |
| Nov 19 18:00 | TS | 40 mph | — | 16.5°N 155.5°E | open ocean |
| Nov 20 00:00 | TD | 35 mph | — | 17.0°N 154.5°E | open ocean |
⬇ Download track data (CSV) · public-domain NOAA best track
Questions
No — the NOAA best-track record shows no landfall for Ruby. Its closest approach to a major city was 60 miles from Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
At its peak on November 16, 1972, Ruby was a Category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 127 mph (204 km/h) and a central pressure of 944 mb.
9.0 days, from November 11, 1972 to November 20, 1972, including 96 hours at hurricane strength (36 as a major hurricane). It travelled about 2,445 miles.
The 6-hourly positions, winds, pressure and wind radii are available as CSV on this page (track.csv) — they come from the NOAA National Hurricane Center's HURDAT2 database and are in the public domain.
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