1968 Pacific typhoon season

Few storms, but most became typhoons

The Joint Typhoon Warning Center counted 20 typhoons, 7 tropical storms and 4 tropical depressions in 1968 and issued 822 warnings over 142 days in warning status. That was far fewer days than the record 185 of 1967, yet on 68 of them, 48 percent, the center was warning on two or more cyclones at once. The site's 27 tropical storms and 20 typhoons match the JTWC totals because both use one-minute US warning winds.

The JTWC listed five super typhoons with winds of 130 kt or more: Mary, Wendy, Agnes, Elaine and Faye. The site counts 4 at Category 5, since its threshold of 137 kt leaves out Mary at 130 kt; other tallies also give 4 super typhoons. The site's accumulated cyclone energy of 357.7 rests on the archive's one-minute winds during each storm's tropical stage.

A slow start from Jean to Mary

The archive's first tropical-stage observation is on 21 January, but the first named storm, Typhoon Jean, did not form until April. Jean became a typhoon on 9 April and peaked at 110 kt the next day. Typhoon Kim reached 100 kt in early June and Typhoon Lucy 110 kt at the end of the month.

Typhoon Mary brought the first super typhoon of the year in late July, peaking at 130 kt on 24 July; aircraft measured 924 mb. Tropical Storms Nadine and Olive formed alongside it.

Polly and the Hida River bus disaster

Tropical Storm Polly never reached typhoon strength, peaking at 55 kt, but its rain brought heavy loss of life to Japan. Floods and landslides killed 112 people and left 21 missing. On 18 August a landslide pushed two sightseeing buses into the Hida River at Shirakawa in Gifu Prefecture, killing 96 people and leaving 8 missing.

Tropical Storm Trix followed in late August and struck southern Kyushu and Shikoku. Its flooding killed 25 people and left 2 missing.

Wendy and Agnes at the turn of September

Wendy and Agnes formed within a day of each other at the end of August. Wendy reached 140 kt on 31 August, with 917 mb measured, and then weakened on its long run west. It passed southern Taiwan on 5 September as a minimal typhoon and crossed the South China Sea into northern Vietnam. At Phu Lien in Hai Phong, gusts reached about 205 km/h, beyond what the station's anemometer could record, and the storm killed 155 people and injured 400 in Hai Phong alone.

Agnes deepened rapidly on 2 and 3 September and reached 150 kt late on 3 September. Aircraft measured 904 mb, and the archive gives 900 hPa early on 4 September, the lowest of the year. Agnes then curved northeast south of Japan and became extratropical on 10 September without its center crossing land.

Tropical Storm Virginia, meanwhile, formed near the date line northwest of Midway and moved east into the central Pacific. The JTWC handed it to the Honolulu warning office, the only storm it passed out of its area that year.

Carmen, Della, Elaine and Faye

Typhoon Carmen peaked at 110 kt on 19 September and recurved near 28°N. The JTWC used it as a case study of extratropical transition: satellite pictures showed a clear circulation merging with the polar front while the sea surface beneath it cooled and the warm core faded. Typhoon Della reached 120 kt at almost the same time; it struck Kyushu with 100 mph winds, below its peak, and killed 11 people in southern Japan.

Typhoon Elaine peaked at 150 kt on 27 September, with 908 mb measured, then weakened before crossing the far north of Luzon on 28 September; its landfall wind was about 130 mph. It crossed the South China Sea and reached southeastern China as a tropical storm. Typhoon Faye stayed far out in the Pacific, peaking at 145 kt on 5 October before racing north toward Kamchatka.

Eight more typhoons before December

Activity kept going through October and November. Typhoon Judy reached 120 kt on 28 October and Typhoon Lola 105 kt on 10 November. Typhoon Ora, the last storm of the year, peaked at 120 kt on 25 November; it made landfall in the Philippines as a Category 1 typhoon, weaker than its peak, and affected much of the northern Philippines as a tropical storm. The archive's last tropical-stage observation is on 30 November, and no storm formed in December.