The 1968 season

Unnamed tropical depression (1968)

Unnamed tropical depression peaked at 20 kt in the South Pacific between February 25, 1968 and February 28, 1968, with a lowest pressure of 1005 mb.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Unnamed tropical depression, 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
South Pacific
Dates
February 25, 1968 to February 28, 1968
Peak strength
Tropical Depression, 20 kt (23 mph)
Lowest pressure
1005 mb (29.68 inHg)
Landfall
No; closest approach 297 km (185 mi)
Accumulated cyclone energy
0.0
Identifier
SH281968

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
Feb 25, 00:0013.4S 147.5E15 ktTropical storm
Feb 25, 06:0013.6S 147.8E20 ktTropical storm
Feb 25, 12:0013.7S 148.2E20 ktTropical storm
Feb 25, 18:0013.9S 148.8E15 ktTropical storm
Feb 26, 00:0014.0S 149.3E10 ktTropical storm
Feb 26, 06:0014.1S 149.7E15 ktTropical storm
Feb 26, 12:0014.2S 150.2E15 ktTropical storm
Feb 26, 18:0014.3S 150.7E15 ktTropical storm
Feb 27, 00:0014.3S 151.2E15 ktTropical storm
Feb 27, 06:0014.2S 151.8E15 ktTropical storm
Feb 27, 12:0014.1S 152.4E15 ktTropical storm
Feb 27, 18:0014.0S 153.1E15 ktTropical storm
Feb 28, 00:0013.9S 153.7E15 ktTropical storm
Feb 28, 06:0013.8S 154.3E20 ktTropical storm
Feb 28, 12:0013.8S 154.9E20 ktTropical storm
Feb 28, 18:0013.8S 155.5E15 ktTropical storm

Other South 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.