The 1968 season

Tropical Storm Estelle (1968)

Tropical Storm Estelle peaked at 45 kt in the Eastern Pacific between July 23, 1968 and July 31, 1968.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Estelle, 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 23, 1968 to July 31, 1968
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 45 kt (52 mph)
Landfall
No; closest approach 646 km (401 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
1.0
Identifier
EP051968

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 23, 12:0011.0N 101.0W25 ktTropical depression
Jul 23, 18:0011.1N 101.5W25 ktTropical depression
Jul 24, 00:0011.2N 102.1W25 ktTropical depression
Jul 24, 06:0011.3N 102.9W25 ktTropical depression
Jul 24, 12:0011.4N 103.9W45 ktTropical storm
Jul 24, 18:0011.5N 105.4W45 ktTropical storm
Jul 25, 00:0011.6N 107.0W45 ktTropical storm
Jul 25, 06:0011.7N 108.1W45 ktTropical storm
Jul 25, 12:0011.7N 109.2W45 ktTropical storm
Jul 25, 18:0011.8N 110.3W25 ktTropical depression
Jul 26, 00:0012.0N 111.4W25 ktTropical depression
Jul 26, 06:0011.5N 112.2W25 ktTropical depression
Jul 26, 12:0011.1N 113.0W25 ktTropical depression
Jul 26, 18:0011.4N 114.6W25 ktTropical depression
Jul 27, 00:0011.8N 116.3W25 ktTropical depression
Jul 27, 06:0012.1N 117.8W25 ktTropical depression
Jul 27, 12:0012.5N 119.3W25 ktTropical depression
Jul 27, 18:0012.9N 121.1W25 ktTropical depression
Jul 28, 00:0013.4N 122.8W25 ktTropical depression
Jul 28, 06:0014.2N 125.1W25 ktTropical depression
Jul 28, 12:0014.9N 127.4W25 ktTropical depression
Jul 28, 18:0015.3N 128.8W25 ktTropical depression
Jul 29, 00:0015.4N 130.3W25 ktTropical depression
Jul 29, 06:0015.3N 130.8W25 ktTropical depression
Jul 29, 12:0015.2N 131.3W25 ktTropical depression
Jul 29, 18:0015.1N 131.9W25 ktTropical depression
Jul 30, 00:0015.0N 132.5W25 ktTropical depression
Jul 30, 06:0014.9N 133.3W25 ktTropical depression
Jul 30, 12:0014.8N 134.1W25 ktTropical depression
Jul 30, 18:0014.8N 135.4W25 ktTropical depression
Jul 31, 00:0014.9N 136.7W25 ktTropical depression
Jul 31, 06:0015.0N 138.1W25 ktTropical depression
Jul 31, 12:0015.0N 139.6W25 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.