Severe Tropical Cyclone Jasper was the wettest tropical cyclone in Australian history, surpassing Cyclone Peter of 1979. The third disturbance of the 2023–24 South Pacific cyclone season and the first named storm and severe tropical cyclone of the 2023–24 Australian region cyclone season, Jasper was first noted as an area of low pressure located in the South Pacific Ocean, which was initially slow to develop as it tracked southwestwards through the South Pacific Ocean in Fiji's area of responsibility. The system began to consolidate as it moved towards the Australian region, with the Australian Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) upgrading the system to a Category 1 tropical cyclone on the Australian scale and naming it Jasper. The storm quickly intensified and became a Category 4 tropical cyclone on 7 December; the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) estimated sustained winds of 220 km/h (140 mph). Jasper soon entered an environment of increasing wind shear, causing the system to steadily weaken. Its low-level circulation centre became totally exposed and it maintained a poorly defined convective structure as it approached northern Queensland. Jasper later reintensified, and on 13 December, made landfall as a Category 2 tropical cyclone off the eastern coast of the Cape York Peninsula near Wujal Wujal. Jasper then weakened into a ex-tropical low and remained traceable overland as it moved southeast, and was last noted on 18 December.
Cyclone Jasper at peak intensity on 8 December
Cyclone Jasper approaching Queensland on 12 December.
Flooding at the Barron River Bridge in Kamerunga on 18 December
2023–24 South Pacific cyclone season
The 2023–24 South Pacific cyclone season was a below-average season within the South Pacific Ocean to the east of 160°E. The season officially started on November 1, 2023, and ended on April 30, 2024, however a tropical cyclone could form between July 1, 2023, and June 30, 2024, and still be included in the season, as shown by Cyclone Lola which formed in October. During the season, tropical cyclones will be officially monitored by the Fiji Meteorological Service, Australian Bureau of Meteorology and New Zealand's MetService. The United States Armed Forces through the Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) will also monitor the basin and issue unofficial warnings for American interests. The FMS attaches a number and an F suffix to systems that are active in the basin while the JTWC designates significant tropical cyclones with a number and a P suffix. The BoM, FMS and MetService all use the Australian Tropical Cyclone Intensity Scale and estimate winds with a 10-minute period, while the JTWC estimates winds over a 1-minute period, which are subsequently compared to the Saffir–Simpson hurricane wind scale (SSHWS).
2023–24 South Pacific cyclone season
2023–24 South Pacific cyclone season
2023–24 South Pacific cyclone season
2023–24 South Pacific cyclone season