IRMA

History

Tropical Cyclone Irma was a brief, weak system that formed in the eastern Gulf of Carpentaria on 19 January 1987, developing from a low embedded in an active monsoon trough. Moving east-southeast across warm but shallow gulf waters, the low organised quickly and was named Irma by the Bureau of Meteorology's Brisbane Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre on the same day, by which time it lay roughly 100 km west of Edward River (Pormpuraaw) on the western side of Cape York Peninsula.

Irma reached its peak as a Category 1 system on the Australian scale, with a minimum central pressure near 990 hPa and maximum 10-minute sustained winds of about 65–75 km/h, with gusts to around 95 km/h. This intensity was held only briefly before the cyclone crossed the western coast of Cape York Peninsula near Edward River late on 19 January or during the early hours of 20 January. Friction and the loss of its warm-water energy source weakened Irma below tropical cyclone strength within hours of landfall.

The remnant monsoonal low then tracked rapidly east-northeast right across the peninsula, emerging over the Coral Sea near Cooktown later on 20 January. Strong upper-level wind shear prevented any redevelopment, and the circulation dissipated off the tropical Queensland coast on 21 January, giving the system a total life of around three days.

Impacts were modest. Communities on western Cape York Peninsula, particularly Edward River and Kowanyama, experienced squally winds, above-normal tides and heavy monsoonal rainfall. Minor stream rises occurred and station tracks were flooded, but damage was largely limited to trees and light structures. Ahead of landfall, gale warnings were issued for fishing fleets and coastal freight vessels working the eastern Gulf of Carpentaria. No deaths, injuries or significant structural damage were attributed to the cyclone.

Irma was one of several systems recorded during the below-average 1986–87 Australian region season, notable mainly for tracking completely across Cape York Peninsula from the Gulf into the Coral Sea.

Sources: Bureau of Meteorology report Wikipedia