The southeast Australian foehn is a westerly foehn wind and a rain shadow effect that usually occurs on the coastal plain of southern New South Wales, and as well as in eastern Victoria and eastern Tasmania, on the leeward side of the Great Dividing Range. Ranging from cool to hot (depending on the season), the effect occurs when westerly winds descend steeply from the Great Dividing Range onto the coastal slopes, whereby causing major adiabatic compression (which is the rate at which temperature decreases with altitude) and a substantial loss of moisture.