The 1968 season

Typhoon Shirley (1968)

Typhoon Shirley reached Category 1 in the Western Pacific between August 14, 1968 and August 24, 1968, with a lowest pressure of 960 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Typhoon Shirley, 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
August 14, 1968 to August 24, 1968
Peak strength
Category 1, 65 kt (75 mph)
Lowest pressure
960 mb (28.35 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
4.6
Identifier
WP091968

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 14, 06:0014.3N 144.7E1007 mbMixed
Aug 14, 12:0014.3N 144.0E1008 mbMixed
Aug 14, 18:0014.1N 143.3E1006 mbMixed
Aug 15, 00:0013.6N 142.5E1008 mbMixed
Aug 15, 06:0013.2N 141.7E1006 mbMixed
Aug 15, 12:0013.0N 140.4E1006 mbMixed
Aug 15, 18:0013.7N 139.1E1006 mbMixed
Aug 16, 00:0014.5N 137.9E1006 mbMixed
Aug 16, 06:0015.2N 136.6E1004 mbMixed
Aug 16, 12:0015.7N 135.0E1004 mbMixed
Aug 16, 18:0016.2N 133.6E1004 mbMixed
Aug 17, 00:0016.3N 132.2E25 kt1002 mbTropical storm
Aug 17, 06:0016.0N 130.6E25 kt998 mbTropical storm
Aug 17, 12:0016.1N 129.5E30 kt996 mbTropical storm
Aug 17, 18:0016.0N 128.3E30 kt994 mbTropical storm
Aug 18, 00:0015.7N 127.1E35 kt990 mbTropical storm
Aug 18, 06:0015.9N 126.0E40 kt985 mbTropical storm
Aug 18, 12:0016.7N 125.2E50 kt980 mbTropical storm
Aug 18, 18:0017.1N 124.1E55 kt970 mbTropical storm
Aug 19, 00:0017.3N 123.0E60 kt960 mbTropical storm
Aug 19, 06:0017.7N 121.9E50 kt965 mbTropical storm
Aug 19, 12:0018.2N 120.8E45 kt965 mbTropical storm
Aug 19, 18:0018.4N 119.6E50 kt970 mbTropical storm
Aug 20, 00:0018.8N 118.6E50 kt975 mbTropical storm
Aug 20, 06:0019.3N 117.7E55 kt975 mbTropical storm
Aug 20, 12:0019.6N 116.8E60 kt965 mbTropical storm
Aug 20, 18:0020.1N 116.0E60 kt970 mbTropical storm
Aug 21, 00:0020.7N 115.4E65 kt965 mbTropical storm
Aug 21, 06:0021.5N 114.8E65 kt965 mbTropical storm
Aug 21, 12:0022.2N 114.3E60 kt970 mbTropical storm
Aug 21, 18:0023.0N 113.8E45 kt980 mbTropical storm
Aug 22, 00:0024.1N 112.4E990 mbMixed
Aug 22, 06:0024.8N 112.2E992 mbMixed
Aug 22, 12:0025.3N 111.9E994 mbMixed
Aug 22, 18:0025.9N 111.7E996 mbMixed
Aug 23, 00:0026.1N 111.3E998 mbMixed
Aug 23, 06:0026.3N 110.9E998 mbMixed
Aug 23, 12:0027.1N 110.9E998 mbMixed
Aug 23, 18:0028.4N 112.0E998 mbTropical storm
Aug 24, 00:0029.0N 112.3E1000 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.