page_title: Hurricane Celeste (1972)
section_title: Meteorological history
hierarchical_section_title: Hurricane Celeste (1972) / Meteorological history
caption_attribution_description: Saffir-Simpson Hurricane ScaleTDTS12345 English: Hurricane Celeste (1972) track. Uses the color scheme from the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale.
context_page_description: Hurricane Celeste of August 1972 was the first known tropical cyclone to strike Johnston Atoll as a hurricane. Forming from a disturbance in the East Pacific on August 6, the storm began a general westward movement it would take throughout most of its life. The storm intensified steadily, becoming a Category 1 hurricane on August 10. It kept steady at this intensity until it reached the Central Pacific. Upon entering the Central Pacific, intensification began anew, and by August 14, the hurricane reached a peak intensity of 130 mph. After maintaining this intensity for twelve hours, the hurricane began to weaken while passing south of Hawaii. The weakening phase was similar to its intensification in that the storm lost intensity slowly. Celeste then made a turn to the northwest and dropped below hurricane intensity on August 21. The storm then entered an area of vertical wind shear, causing it to dissipate soon after.
  Celeste was responsible for damage to shipping and for causing high waves to hit Hawai'i. The biggest impact from the hurricane, however, was on Johnston Atoll.
context_section_description: The precursor to Celeste was a tropical disturbance that had stalled roughly 520 miles (840 km) south of La Paz, Mexico on August 4, though the disturbance was tracked starting two days before.  The disturbance slowly intensified into a tropical storm on August 6 and was given the name Celeste. The next day, a ship called the Star Track reported winds of 25 mph (40 km/h) and an atmospheric pressure of 1,006 millibars (29.7 inHg) at a point 105 miles (169 km) south of the center of the storm. At this point, the storm began a general westward motion it would continue on for most of its life due to high-pressure areas north of its track. While traversing the East Pacific, the storm kept a consistent intensity until late on August 9, when it started intensifying again, becoming a hurricane the next day. On August 12, the hurricane passed 140°W longitude and entered the Central Pacific just as it reached Category 2 strength.
  Upon entering the Central Pacific, the hurricane began intensifying at a steady rate. On August 14, it peaked as a minimum Category 4 hurricane, an intensity it would keep for twelve hours. Afterwards, the hurricane began a slow weakening trend, despite reaching its lowest pressure – 940 millibars (28 inHg) – after its wind speeds decreased. On August 16, the hurricane made a turn to the west-northwest, which brought it on a path towards Johnston Atoll. The hurricane passed 30 miles (48 km) to the northeast of Johnston on August 19, subjecting the atoll to nearly six hours of hurricane-force winds. After passing the atoll, Celeste turned to the northwest and eventually weakened to a tropical storm on August 21. Shortly after weakening to a tropical storm, it entered an area of higher vertical wind shear which ultimately led to its dissipation by August 22.
  The best track intensity of Celeste largely varies between the HURDAT and the Central Pacific Hurricane Center (CPHC). The best track on HURDAT lists Celeste as strengthening in intensity from tropical storm to its Category 4 peak and then weakening to dissipation in a straightforward manner, skipping Category 3 intensity while strengthening. The CPHC track, however, varies in that it shows a weakening to Category 1 shortly after entering the basin, followed by reintensification into a Category 3. Another difference is that the CPHC shows Celeste as having reached Category 3 a second time on August 18 after prior weakening, during which it reached its peak intensity. Finally, the CPHC best track gives a peak intensity of Category 3 rather than Category 4.
caption: Map plotting the track and the intensity of the storm, according to the Saffir–Simpson scale
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