Thelma continued to intensify as it turned to the south-southwest, reaching Category 5 strengthen on the Australian cyclone scale as it brushed the Tiwi Islands.

[4] Cyclone Thelma reached a peak of 140 mph with a minimum pressure of 925 mbar on the 8th, and made landfall on the western Australian coastline on the 10th.

Thelma was responsible for moderate rainfall and downed trees, but caused no casualties due to the sparse population of where it hit.

The warning center at Perth initiated bulletins on the tropical low on 7 December when the system was located 175 nm west-northwest of Cocos Island.

The disturbance continued to intensify over the Northern Territory, until it stalled over the border of Queensland for a couple of days.

On 30 December the system moved over water and began to develop further, prompting TCWC Brisbane to issue a Tropical Cyclone Watch for portions of the southern Gulf coast.

The low turned south-southeast shortly afterwards, and warnings were canceled when it became apparent that the center moved back inland.

At least one death was indirectly attributed to the storm, when heavy rain and fog caused a car to drive off a road north of Brisbane.

On 22 January the Joint Typhoon Warning Center began mentioning a disturbance in the Gulf of Carpentaria in their daily Tropical Weather Outlooks.

The TCWC at Darwin begin issuing warnings on 24 January and a cyclone watch was posted for portions of the southern Gulf Coast.

The JTWC noted that a second circulation appeared to the east of the warning position and that dry air entrainment had led to decreased organization of the depressions.

When the low was about 125 nm east of Alyangula, Darwin issued the last gale warning, and ceased advices on the slow-moving system 24 hours later.

Rona formed in the Coral Sea and crossed the Queensland coast on 11 February causing major flooding between Cairns and Townsville with extensive crop damage.

Moving southward, the interaction with land weakened Vance and by 24 March, the storm dissipated before reaching Victoria, Australia.

The Bureau's Regional Director Len Broadbridge said that Vance was one of the most severe cyclones in Australia's history.

Tropical cyclones are named if they are non-frontal low pressure systems of synoptic scale developing over warm waters, or if Dvorak intensity analysis indicate the presence of gale force or stronger winds near the centre.

[7] Each Australian Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre (Perth, Darwin, and Brisbane) maintains a list of names arranged alphabetically and alternating male and female.

The Bureau of Meteorology retired the names Elaine, Gwenda, Rona, Thelma and Vance, replacing them with Ellie, Gabrielle, Ruby, Tasha and Verdun respectively.