News

How a tropical cyclone near Darwin will cause 47C heat over Australia next week

Source Weatherzone Fri 21 Nov 2025

The downstream influence of Tropical Cyclone Fina will cause intense heat to build over central Australia this weekend and early next week, with temperatures predicted to reach 46 to 47°C in at least two states. While most of November has been unusually cool for large areas of Australia, a burst of late-spring heat is about to develop over the country’s interior. Tropical Cyclone Fina, which is currently bearing down on the NT’s Top End coast, is drawing vast amounts of heat from the Timor Sea and transporting it into higher levels of the atmosphere. Image: Tropical Cyclone Fina near the NT's Top End on Friday. Over the coming days, this upper-level air will move further south 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 is ejecting into the upper-atmosphere this week is that while it has lost a lot of the moisture it began with, it has retained its potential temperature. This means the air will warm up as it descends towards the ground over central Australia this weekend and early next week, a process called adiabatic warming. The two maps below show the maximum temperature forecasts for today (Friday) and Monday next week, highlighting how much warming is going to occur over the next four days. Image: Forecast maximum temperatures on Friday, November 21, 2025. Image: Forecast maximum temperatures on Monday, November 24, 2025. Temperatures on Sunday and Monday are forecast to reach 45 to 46°C in SA and 47°C in southwest Qld. Temperatures should also hit the low to mid 40s in northwest NSW and the southern NT on these days. These temperatures aren’t unprecedented for central Australia in late spring, but they may get within a degree or two of November heat records. Heatwave warnings will be issued for numerous states and territories over the coming days in response to the rapid onset of this intense heat. - Weatherzone © Weatherzone 2025