The 1968 season

Tropical Storm Frances (1968)

Tropical Storm Frances peaked at 50 kt in the North Atlantic between September 23, 1968 and September 29, 1968, with a lowest pressure of 1001 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Tropical Storm Frances, 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
North Atlantic
Dates
September 23, 1968 to September 29, 1968
Peak strength
Tropical Storm, 50 kt (58 mph)
Lowest pressure
1001 mb (29.56 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 470 km (292 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
2.3
Identifier
AL121968

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
Sep 23, 12:0026.4N 73.5W25 ktSubtropical depression
Sep 23, 18:0027.2N 73.7W25 ktSubtropical depression
Sep 24, 00:0027.9N 73.9W25 ktSubtropical depression
Sep 24, 06:0028.4N 74.1W25 ktSubtropical depression
Sep 24, 12:0028.8N 74.2W30 ktSubtropical depression
Sep 24, 18:0029.4N 74.1W30 kt1012 mbSubtropical depression
Sep 25, 00:0030.1N 73.5W30 ktSubtropical depression
Sep 25, 06:0030.7N 72.6W30 ktSubtropical depression
Sep 25, 12:0031.3N 71.7W30 kt1012 mbSubtropical depression
Sep 25, 18:0031.9N 70.8W30 ktSubtropical depression
Sep 26, 00:0032.5N 70.0W30 ktSubtropical depression
Sep 26, 06:0033.0N 69.4W30 ktSubtropical depression
Sep 26, 12:0033.4N 68.8W35 ktTropical storm
Sep 26, 18:0033.7N 68.2W40 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Sep 27, 00:0033.9N 67.7W40 ktTropical storm
Sep 27, 06:0034.1N 67.1W45 ktTropical storm
Sep 27, 12:0034.3N 66.2W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 27, 18:0034.5N 65.3W50 kt1001 mbTropical storm
Sep 28, 00:0034.7N 63.7W50 ktTropical storm
Sep 28, 06:0034.9N 61.9W45 ktTropical storm
Sep 28, 12:0035.1N 59.8W45 ktTropical storm
Sep 28, 18:0035.4N 57.8W45 kt1003 mbTropical storm
Sep 29, 00:0035.7N 55.7W40 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Sep 29, 06:0036.0N 53.5W40 kt1004 mbTropical storm
Sep 29, 12:0035.8N 50.7W35 ktExtratropical
Sep 29, 18:0035.5N 48.1W35 ktExtratropical

Other North Atlantic 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.