The 1968 season

Super Typhoon Wendy (1968)

Super Typhoon Wendy reached Category 5 in the Western Pacific between August 27, 1968 and September 10, 1968, with a lowest pressure of 920 mb, and made landfall.

Track and intensity

The whole track of Super Typhoon Wendy, 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.

Open the live map with storms, cones and warnings

The storm

Basin
Western Pacific
Dates
August 27, 1968 to September 10, 1968
Peak strength
Category 5, 140 kt (161 mph)
Lowest pressure
920 mb (27.17 inHg)
Landfall
Yes
Accumulated cyclone energy
36.9
Identifier
WP121968

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 27, 00:0015.4N 150.8E1004 mbTropical storm
Aug 27, 06:0015.5N 150.5E1000 mbTropical storm
Aug 27, 12:0015.6N 150.3E1000 mbTropical storm
Aug 27, 18:0015.7N 150.0E996 mbTropical storm
Aug 28, 00:0016.0N 149.6E992 mbTropical storm
Aug 28, 06:0016.3N 149.0E35 kt990 mbTropical storm
Aug 28, 12:0016.0N 148.2E45 kt980 mbTropical storm
Aug 28, 18:0016.1N 147.4E55 kt975 mbTropical storm
Aug 29, 00:0016.2N 146.7E65 kt970 mbTropical storm
Aug 29, 06:0016.4N 146.0E75 kt965 mbTropical storm
Aug 29, 12:0016.3N 145.6E85 kt960 mbTropical storm
Aug 29, 18:0016.7N 145.9E100 kt950 mbTropical storm
Aug 30, 00:0017.4N 145.5E105 kt935 mbTropical storm
Aug 30, 06:0017.9N 145.0E110 kt925 mbTropical storm
Aug 30, 12:0018.4N 144.5E120 kt920 mbTropical storm
Aug 30, 18:0018.9N 144.0E130 kt920 mbTropical storm
Aug 31, 00:0019.4N 143.5E140 kt920 mbTropical storm
Aug 31, 06:0020.0N 142.8E135 kt925 mbTropical storm
Aug 31, 12:0020.5N 141.9E130 kt930 mbTropical storm
Aug 31, 18:0020.9N 140.7E125 kt930 mbTropical storm
Sep 1, 00:0021.2N 139.4E120 kt935 mbTropical storm
Sep 1, 06:0021.5N 138.2E115 kt940 mbTropical storm
Sep 1, 12:0021.9N 136.9E115 kt940 mbTropical storm
Sep 1, 18:0022.2N 135.5E110 kt940 mbTropical storm
Sep 2, 00:0022.5N 134.2E105 kt940 mbTropical storm
Sep 2, 06:0022.8N 132.7E100 kt935 mbTropical storm
Sep 2, 12:0022.9N 131.2E100 kt945 mbTropical storm
Sep 2, 18:0023.0N 129.7E95 kt945 mbTropical storm
Sep 3, 00:0022.8N 128.4E95 kt945 mbTropical storm
Sep 3, 06:0022.6N 127.2E90 kt945 mbTropical storm
Sep 3, 12:0022.3N 126.2E90 kt940 mbTropical storm
Sep 3, 18:0021.9N 125.2E85 kt945 mbTropical storm
Sep 4, 00:0021.7N 124.3E85 kt950 mbTropical storm
Sep 4, 06:0021.5N 123.4E85 kt950 mbTropical storm
Sep 4, 12:0021.1N 122.8E80 kt965 mbTropical storm
Sep 4, 18:0021.5N 123.2E80 kt970 mbTropical storm
Sep 5, 00:0021.7N 122.4E80 kt970 mbTropical storm
Sep 5, 06:0021.6N 121.8E75 kt970 mbTropical storm
Sep 5, 12:0021.9N 121.4E75 kt975 mbTropical storm
Sep 5, 18:0021.8N 121.3E70 kt975 mbTropical storm
Sep 6, 00:0021.7N 120.7E65 kt970 mbTropical storm
Sep 6, 06:0021.9N 120.2E60 kt975 mbTropical storm
Sep 6, 12:0022.1N 119.7E60 kt975 mbTropical storm
Sep 6, 18:0022.1N 119.2E55 kt975 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 00:0022.0N 118.5E55 kt980 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 06:0022.0N 117.8E50 kt980 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 12:0022.0N 116.9E50 kt980 mbTropical storm
Sep 7, 18:0021.7N 115.8E50 kt980 mbTropical storm
Sep 8, 00:0021.2N 114.6E45 kt985 mbTropical storm
Sep 8, 06:0021.2N 113.3E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Sep 8, 12:0021.2N 111.7E45 kt990 mbTropical storm
Sep 8, 18:0020.9N 110.2E40 kt992 mbTropical storm
Sep 9, 00:0020.8N 108.6E40 kt994 mbTropical storm
Sep 9, 06:0020.9N 107.0E35 kt996 mbTropical storm
Sep 9, 12:0020.9N 105.3E996 mbMixed
Sep 9, 18:0021.1N 104.0E1000 mbTropical storm
Sep 10, 00:0021.1N 102.6E1002 mbTropical storm
Sep 10, 06:0021.0N 102.7E1002 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.