JIM

History

Severe Tropical Cyclone Jim developed from a low-pressure system just southeast of mainland Papua New Guinea on 6 March 1984, during what was a record-breaking Australian cyclone season. The system gradually intensified while tracking generally west-southwestward. In the early hours of 8 March, Jim made its first landfall at Cape Grenville on the Queensland coast, causing minor vegetation damage and bringing down a number of large trees. The cyclone then crossed the Cape York Peninsula and emerged into the Gulf of Carpentaria. On 9 March, Jim made a second landfall near Port Roper in the Northern Territory, just south of Numbulwar, before dissipating the following day.

Impacts from Jim were relatively modest. A 15-metre vessel was beached at Alyangula, and inland wind gusts reaching around 100 km/h toppled trees near the Roper River. Overall, the cyclone did not cause major structural damage or recorded casualties. Jim's track across Cape York Peninsula and subsequent re-emergence into the Gulf of Carpentaria before striking the Northern Territory coast made it a notable cross-peninsula system, though its effects were considerably less severe than some of the other significant cyclones active during the exceptionally active 1983–84 Australian cyclone season.

Sources: Bureau of Meteorology report Wikipedia