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How a tropical cyclone near Darwin causes energy demand to soar in NSW and Queensland

The downstream influence of Severe Tropical Cyclone Fina caused intense inland heat to build and be drawn into eastern Australia, causing energy demand to soar in NSW and Queensland.

Severe Tropical Cyclone Fina crossed the northeast Kimberley coast in WA late on Monday, November 24, 2025, but downstream influences from the system will be felt 3,000 km away as vast amounts of heat from the Timor Sea is drawn and transported into higher levels of the atmosphere.

Image: Severe Tropical Cyclone Fina approaching the northeast Kimberley coast on Monday, November 24, 2025.

This warm upper-level air moved southwards before descending over the Australian continent under the influence of an upper-level high pressure system.

One important point to note about the air that Fina ejected into the upper-atmosphere is that while it has lost a lot of the moisture it began with, it has retained its potential temperature. This means the air warmed up significantly as it descends towards the ground over central Australia over the weekend and early week, a process called adiabatic warming.

The two maps below show the maximum temperature forecasts for Wednesday and Thursday, respectively, highlighting heat pushing into NSW and then Queensland in the coming days.

Image: Forecast maximum temperatures across NSW on Wednesday, November 26, 2025.

Image: Forecast maximum temperatures across Queensland on Thursday, November 27, 2025.

Temperatures are forecast to reach 36°C on Wednesday for Sydney, and 36°C on Thursday for Brisbane, driving high energy demand for energy providers in the coming days. Warm temperatures are forecast to persist for NSW and Queensland into early next week, limiting any cooling relief and amplifying the energy demand across the period. Severe heatwave conditions currently extend across much of Queensland and northeast NSW, with pockets of extreme heatwave conditions for northeastern Queensland.

Image: Heatwave conditions across Queensland between Monday and Wednesday, November 24-26, 2025.

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