The 1968 season

Typhoon Lucy (1968)

Typhoon Lucy reached Category 3 in the Western Pacific between June 26, 1968 and July 3, 1968, with a lowest pressure of 935 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Typhoon Lucy, 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
Western Pacific
Dates
June 26, 1968 to July 3, 1968
Peak strength
Category 3, 110 kt (127 mph)
Lowest pressure
935 mb (27.61 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 189 km (117 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
9.4
Identifier
WP031968

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
Jun 26, 00:0012.9N 156.1E1010 mbMixed
Jun 26, 06:0013.2N 155.0E1008 mbMixed
Jun 26, 12:0013.6N 153.8E1010 mbMixed
Jun 26, 18:0013.9N 152.6E1010 mbMixed
Jun 27, 00:0014.2N 151.3E1010 mbMixed
Jun 27, 06:0014.6N 149.7E1008 mbMixed
Jun 27, 12:0015.0N 148.0E1006 mbMixed
Jun 27, 18:0015.2N 146.1E1006 mbTropical storm
Jun 28, 00:0015.1N 144.5E45 kt1000 mbTropical storm
Jun 28, 06:0015.8N 142.8E55 kt995 mbTropical storm
Jun 28, 12:0016.2N 141.2E60 kt995 mbTropical storm
Jun 28, 18:0016.5N 139.3E60 kt990 mbTropical storm
Jun 29, 00:0017.1N 137.3E65 kt985 mbTropical storm
Jun 29, 06:0017.7N 135.6E75 kt970 mbTropical storm
Jun 29, 12:0018.3N 134.1E80 kt955 mbTropical storm
Jun 29, 18:0018.8N 132.7E95 kt940 mbTropical storm
Jun 30, 00:0019.3N 131.4E110 kt935 mbTropical storm
Jun 30, 06:0019.9N 130.5E100 kt955 mbTropical storm
Jun 30, 12:0020.3N 129.8E95 kt970 mbTropical storm
Jun 30, 18:0020.8N 129.3E85 kt970 mbTropical storm
Jul 1, 00:0021.5N 128.9E80 kt975 mbTropical storm
Jul 1, 06:0022.5N 128.6E65 kt980 mbTropical storm
Jul 1, 12:0023.5N 128.6E55 kt985 mbTropical storm
Jul 1, 18:0024.5N 128.7E50 kt992 mbTropical storm
Jul 2, 00:0025.8N 128.9E45 kt996 mbTropical storm
Jul 2, 06:0027.8N 130.7E30 kt996 mbMixed
Jul 2, 12:0030.0N 134.9E994 mbTropical storm
Jul 2, 18:0033.0N 139.5E992 mbTropical storm
Jul 3, 00:0035.0N 144.5E990 mbTropical storm

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.