The 1968 season

Super Typhoon Agnes (1968)

Super Typhoon Agnes reached Category 5 in the Western Pacific between August 27, 1968 and September 11, 1968, with a lowest pressure of 900 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Super Typhoon Agnes, colored by strength, with the other storms of the 1968 season in the same basin behind it, and its wind and pressure hour by hour. Every fix is in the track table below.

Open the live map with storms, cones and warnings

The storm

Basin
Western Pacific
Dates
August 27, 1968 to September 11, 1968
Peak strength
Category 5, 150 kt (173 mph)
Lowest pressure
900 mb (26.58 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 643 km (400 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
38.0
Identifier
WP131968

Deaths and damage

No source this site reads publishes a machine-readable casualty or damage figure for a storm of this era. The National Hurricane Center’s season tables begin in 1995 and carry deaths and damage only from 2005 in the Atlantic and 2020 in both basins; the US Storm Events record begins in 1996.

Track

Time (UTC)PositionWindPressureStatus
Aug 27, 06:0011.0N 173.0E1008 mbMixed
Aug 27, 12:0011.6N 172.7E1008 mbMixed
Aug 27, 18:0012.4N 172.3E1006 mbMixed
Aug 28, 00:0013.3N 172.1E1006 mbMixed
Aug 28, 06:0013.9N 171.6E25 kt1004 mbMixed
Aug 28, 12:0014.4N 170.8E25 kt1004 mbMixed
Aug 28, 18:0014.6N 170.3E25 kt1002 mbMixed
Aug 29, 00:0015.4N 169.8E30 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Aug 29, 06:0016.2N 169.1E30 kt998 mbTropical storm
Aug 29, 12:0016.7N 168.3E35 kt998 mbTropical storm
Aug 29, 18:0017.2N 167.2E40 kt996 mbTropical storm
Aug 30, 00:0017.3N 165.7E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Aug 30, 06:0017.4N 164.2E45 kt985 mbTropical storm
Aug 30, 12:0017.3N 162.5E50 kt980 mbTropical storm
Aug 30, 18:0017.2N 160.8E60 kt975 mbTropical storm
Aug 31, 00:0016.8N 159.2E65 kt970 mbTropical storm
Aug 31, 06:0016.4N 157.5E70 kt965 mbTropical storm
Aug 31, 12:0016.1N 155.9E75 kt955 mbTropical storm
Aug 31, 18:0016.1N 154.2E75 kt950 mbTropical storm
Sep 1, 00:0016.1N 152.6E80 kt955 mbTropical storm
Sep 1, 06:0016.1N 150.9E85 kt965 mbTropical storm
Sep 1, 12:0016.2N 149.2E85 kt965 mbTropical storm
Sep 1, 18:0016.3N 147.8E90 kt965 mbTropical storm
Sep 2, 00:0016.4N 146.5E90 kt965 mbTropical storm
Sep 2, 06:0016.6N 145.4E95 kt960 mbTropical storm
Sep 2, 12:0016.8N 144.2E100 kt960 mbTropical storm
Sep 2, 18:0017.1N 143.1E100 kt955 mbTropical storm
Sep 3, 00:0017.3N 142.0E115 kt955 mbTropical storm
Sep 3, 06:0017.6N 141.0E130 kt948 mbTropical storm
Sep 3, 12:0017.9N 140.0E140 kt925 mbTropical storm
Sep 3, 18:0018.3N 139.1E150 kt910 mbTropical storm
Sep 4, 00:0018.8N 138.4E150 kt900 mbTropical storm
Sep 4, 06:0019.3N 137.9E145 kt910 mbTropical storm
Sep 4, 12:0019.6N 137.3E130 kt915 mbTropical storm
Sep 4, 18:0019.4N 136.8E125 kt920 mbTropical storm
Sep 5, 00:0019.1N 136.8E120 kt930 mbTropical storm
Sep 5, 06:0019.1N 137.2E115 kt935 mbTropical storm
Sep 5, 12:0019.4N 137.4E110 kt935 mbTropical storm
Sep 5, 18:0019.7N 137.3E105 kt935 mbTropical storm
Sep 6, 00:0019.6N 136.9E100 kt940 mbTropical storm
Sep 6, 06:0019.6N 137.6E100 kt945 mbTropical storm
Sep 6, 12:0020.3N 137.2E100 kt950 mbTropical storm
Sep 6, 18:0020.5N 136.5E90 kt955 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 00:0020.3N 136.9E80 kt960 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 06:0020.8N 137.3E70 kt965 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 12:0021.6N 137.2E65 kt971 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 18:0022.4N 137.4E60 kt970 mbTropical storm
Sep 8, 00:0023.4N 137.2E60 kt975 mbTropical storm
Sep 8, 06:0024.1N 137.5E60 kt980 mbTropical storm
Sep 8, 12:0024.9N 137.5E55 kt980 mbTropical storm
Sep 8, 18:0026.2N 138.2E55 kt980 mbTropical storm
Sep 9, 00:0027.7N 140.2E55 kt975 mbTropical storm
Sep 9, 06:0029.0N 142.7E50 kt975 mbTropical storm
Sep 9, 12:0030.8N 145.3E50 kt980 mbTropical storm
Sep 9, 18:0034.0N 149.5E40 kt980 mbTropical storm
Sep 10, 00:0037.5N 154.0E35 kt990 mbTropical storm
Sep 10, 06:0042.0N 157.0E30 kt982 mbMixed
Sep 10, 12:0043.0N 161.0E982 mbExtratropical
Sep 10, 18:0045.4N 163.4E984 mbExtratropical
Sep 11, 00:0048.0N 166.1E986 mbExtratropical
Sep 11, 06:0049.9N 170.0E986 mbExtratropical
Sep 11, 12:0050.0N 176.0E990 mbExtratropical
Sep 11, 18:0050.0N 183.0EExtratropical

Other Western Pacific storms of 1968

What this means

A best track is the record a warning agency settles on after the storm, not what it said at the time: position, maximum sustained wind and central pressure every six hours, revised against every observation that came in later. Category is the Saffir-Simpson scale, which runs from Category 1 at 64 kt to Category 5 at 137 kt and reads wind only, so it says nothing about surge or rain. Accumulated cyclone energy adds up the square of the wind through the storm's life, so it counts strength and duration together.

Sources

Storm history from NOAA NCEI’s International Best Track Archive for Climate Stewardship (IBTrACS), which merges the official best track of every warning agency. Live storms, cones, watches and warnings from the National Hurricane Center and the Central Pacific Hurricane Center. Archived radar from NOAA’s Level II archive.