Technology & Science
Cyclone Fina Upgraded to Category-3 as It Skirts North of Darwin, Triggering Territory-Wide Emergency Response
At 07:30 am ACST on 22 Nov 2025, the Bureau of Meteorology declared Tropical Cyclone Fina a severe Category-3 storm 85 km northeast of Darwin, shutting down the city and activating federal support while the eye remained offshore.
Focusing Facts
- Position & strength at 07:30 am ACST 22 Nov: 85 km NE of Darwin, sustained winds 130 km/h, gusts to 185 km/h, moving WSW 9 km/h (BOM).
- Croker Island Airport logged ~200 mm of rain in the 24 hours to Saturday morning, signalling flash-flood potential across the Top End.
- NT officials ordered a city-wide halt to public transport and advised residents to stock 72 hours of supplies as part of the cyclone emergency plan.
Context
Darwin has stared down tropical cyclones for a century, most infamously Category-4 Tracy on 25 Dec 1974 that killed 66 and flattened 70 % of the city’s buildings. Building codes tightened in 1975 and early-warning systems improved after Cyclone Marcus (Category-2, March 2018) still toppled thousands of trees, but Fina tests whether those lessons—and a population now 3× larger than in Tracy’s era—translate into real resilience. The storm’s rapid re-intensification over the 29 °C Van Diemen Gulf water mirrors the 2020s trend of faster-strengthening cyclones seen in the Indian Ocean (e.g., Cyclone Ilsa, April 2023) as warmer seas provide more latent heat. While headlines fixate on Darwin’s shutdown, the more fragile Tiwi and Croker Island communities absorb the first 185 km/h gusts with far less infrastructure redundancy—an old asymmetry in Australian disaster narratives. On a century scale, Fina is another data point suggesting the northern monsoon season is edging earlier and producing higher-end storms; the outcome will shape future coastal planning, insurance premiums, and the viability of expanding Top End settlements in a warming world.
Perspectives
Australian tabloid and commercial outlets
Daily Mail, Herald Sun, The Australian, Sky News Australia — Warn that Cyclone Fina poses an immediate, dramatic threat with "wild scenes", empty supermarket shelves and the prospect of 200-plus km/h winds hammering Darwin and the Tiwi Islands. Sensational, fear-driven framing boosts clicks and engagement and can overstate the danger to Darwin relative to Bureau forecasts that call the city’s risk "low" (see The Australian); emphasis on panic preparations rather than nuanced meteorology.
Australian public broadcasters
ABC, SBS — Provide measured, hourly-updated reporting centred on Bureau of Meteorology data, explaining the cyclone’s track north of Darwin, category-3 wind speeds and official safety advice. Heavy reliance on government agencies can lead to a calm, procedural tone that may underplay the human drama and leave little room for critical scrutiny of authorities’ preparedness.
International wire services
AFP via Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha — Frames the storm for a global audience, linking Cyclone Fina to broader scientific warnings that climate change is amplifying extreme weather. Climate-centric angle may over-generalise causation and skips local nuance, appealing to an international readership attuned to the climate narrative rather than on-the-ground logistics. ( Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) )