The 1968 Pacific typhoon season has no official bounds; it ran year-round in 1968, but most tropical cyclones tend to form in the northwestern Pacific Ocean between June and December. These dates conventionally delimit the period of each year when most tropical cyclones form in the northwestern Pacific Ocean.
The scope of this article is limited to the Pacific Ocean, north of the equator and west of the International Date Line. Storms that form east of the date line and north of the equator are called hurricanes; see 1968 Pacific hurricane season. Tropical Storms formed in the entire west pacific basin were assigned a name by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center. Tropical depressions in this basin have the "W" suffix added to their number. Tropical depressions that enter or form in the Philippine area of responsibility are assigned a name by the Philippine Weather Bureau, the predecessor of the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA). This can often result in the same storm having two names.
Systems
31 tropical depressions formed this year in the Western Pacific, of which 27 became tropical storms. 20 storms reached typhoon intensity, of which 4 reached super typhoon strength. No storms this season caused significant damage or deaths.
A tropical depression formed to the northwest of Palau. Moving north-northwest, the depression degenerated to a remnant low as it made a counterclockwise direction before dissipating.
This depression was not recognized by the JMA, but the CMA.
Jean formed southeast of Guam on April 5. It moved northwest in the following days, strengthening to a Category 3 Typhoon with winds of 285km/h and central pressure of 935 hPa. The storm later curved northwest and dissipated on April 19.
Kim formed southeast of Guam on May 28. It intensified into a Category 3 typhoon while curving northeast. Kim slowly weakened as it moved north. The storm dissipated on June 5.
Tropical Storm Polly dropped heavy rains on the southern islands of Japan. 112people were killed and 21 were missing from the floods and landslides caused by Polly's heavy rains.[1]
Virginia was first noticed near the International Date Line, about 500 kilometers (310mi) northwest of Midway Islands. The system organized and the first advisory was issued on August 25 at 0006Z, with winds of 35 knots (40mph). 18 hours later, Virginia crossed the date line, with winds of 50knots (60mph). It later became extratropical on August27 in the Gulf of Alaska.
Tropical Storm Wendy, which formed on August 28 in the open Western Pacific, quickly intensified to a peak of 160mph winds on the 31st. It steadily weakened as it moved westward, and passed by southern Taiwan on September 5 as a minimal typhoon. Wendy continued to weaken, and after crossing the South China Sea, Wendy dissipated over northern Vietnam on the 9th.
A weather station in Phù Liễn (Hải Phòng) recorded wind gusts reaching up to 205 km/h or even higher, exceeding the measuring capacity of the anemometer.[2] In Hải Phòng alone, the storm caused 155 deaths and injured 400 people.[3]
Typhoon Agnes originated as a low-pressure area in the western Pacific on August 27. Initially classified as a tropical disturbance, it tracked west-northwestward, intensifying into a tropical depression by August 28 and reaching tropical storm status by August 29 near the Marshall Islands. Agnes underwent rapid intensify between September 2–3, achieving super typhoon status with 1-minute sustained winds of 175 mph (280 km/h) and a lowest central pressure of 900 hPa, making it the most intense storm of the 1968 Pacific season. During this phase, it followed a west-northwest trajectory across the Philippine Sea, accelerating to speeds of 24.7 km/h. By September 4, Agnes began recurving northeastward south of Japan, and weakened to a Category 1 typhoon by September 7. It transitioned into an extratropical cyclone northeast of Japan on September 10 and fully dissipated over the North Pacific on September 11.
Super Typhoon Elaine, after peaking at 175mph winds, weakened to hit extreme northern Luzon on September 28 as a 130mph typhoon. It continued to the northwest, and after hitting southeastern China as a minimal tropical storm Elaine dissipated on October 1.
A typhoon that made landfall in the Philippines as a category 1 and impacted most of the northern Philippines as a tropical storm.
Storm names
Western North Pacific tropical cyclones were named by the Joint Typhoon Warning Center. The first storm of 1968 was named Jean and the final one was named Ora.
The Philippine Weather Bureau (later renamed to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration in 1972) uses its own naming scheme for tropical cyclones in their area of responsibility. PAGASA assigns names to tropical depressions that form within their area of responsibility and any tropical cyclone that might move into their area of responsibility. Should the list of names for a given year prove to be insufficient, names are taken from an auxiliary list, the first 6 of which are published each year before the season starts. Names not retired from this list will be used again in the 1972 season. This is the same list used for the 1964 season, except for Didang and Iniang, which replaced Dading and Isang; the latter would later be reintroduced in 1972 for reasons still unknown. The Philippine Weather Bureau and its successor PAGASA uses its own naming scheme that starts in the Filipino alphabet, with names of Filipino female names ending with "ng" (A, B, K, D, etc.). Names that were not assigned/going to use are marked in gray.
Season effects
This table will list all the storms that developed in the northwestern Pacific Ocean west of the International Date Line and north of the equator during 1968. It will include their intensity, duration, name, areas affected, deaths, missing persons (in parentheses), and damage totals. Classification and intensity values will be based on estimations conducted by the JMA, however due to lack of information around this time sustained winds were recorded by the JTWC. All damage figures will be in 1968USD. Damages and deaths from a storm will include when the storm was a precursor wave or an extratropical low.
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