The 1968 season

Tropical Storm Celeste (1968)

Tropical Storm Celeste peaked at 45 kt in the Eastern Pacific between July 15, 1968 and July 21, 1968.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Celeste, 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.

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The storm

Basin
Eastern Pacific
Dates
July 15, 1968 to July 21, 1968
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 45 kt (52 mph)
Landfall
No; closest approach 264 km (164 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
3.8
Identifier
EP031968

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
Jul 15, 00:0015.6N 103.1W25 ktTropical depression
Jul 15, 06:0015.8N 103.5W25 ktTropical depression
Jul 15, 12:0015.9N 104.0W25 ktTropical depression
Jul 15, 18:0015.9N 104.5W45 ktTropical storm
Jul 16, 00:0015.9N 105.1W45 ktTropical storm
Jul 16, 06:0015.9N 106.3W45 ktTropical storm
Jul 16, 12:0016.0N 107.7W45 ktTropical storm
Jul 16, 18:0016.0N 108.9W45 ktTropical storm
Jul 17, 00:0016.0N 110.0W45 ktTropical storm
Jul 17, 06:0016.4N 111.0W45 ktTropical storm
Jul 17, 12:0016.9N 111.9W45 ktTropical storm
Jul 17, 18:0017.1N 112.6W45 ktTropical storm
Jul 18, 00:0017.4N 113.3W45 ktTropical storm
Jul 18, 06:0017.8N 114.1W45 ktTropical storm
Jul 18, 12:0018.3N 114.9W45 ktTropical storm
Jul 18, 18:0018.8N 116.1W45 ktTropical storm
Jul 19, 00:0019.3N 117.3W45 ktTropical storm
Jul 19, 06:0019.7N 118.5W45 ktTropical storm
Jul 19, 12:0020.0N 119.8W45 ktTropical storm
Jul 19, 18:0020.4N 121.0W45 ktTropical storm
Jul 20, 00:0020.9N 122.2W45 ktTropical storm
Jul 20, 06:0021.3N 123.0W45 ktTropical storm
Jul 20, 12:0021.7N 123.8W25 ktTropical depression
Jul 20, 18:0022.2N 124.9W25 ktTropical depression
Jul 21, 00:0022.6N 126.0W25 ktTropical depression
Jul 21, 06:0023.0N 127.1W25 ktTropical depression
Jul 21, 12:0023.3N 128.3W25 ktTropical depression

Other Eastern 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.

The National Hurricane Center has published no tropical cyclone report for this storm.