Australia Bushfires

[Laika]

I haven't seen much discussion on RF of what is going on in Australia with their extreme bush-fire season. So I hope this thread may give us a better opportunity to share information and understand what is going on. Many of the images I've seen on the Guardian are, well, just plain terrifying. Here's a video from the Guardian for those interested.

Although I'm not really familiar with these events I would still like to wish all our Australian members of the forum well and I hope you are at a safe distance from all this.

Please share your thoughts and comments here and feel free to update us with what is going on.

 

[leov]

I haven't seen much discussion on RF of what is going on in Australia with their extreme bush-fire season. So I hope this thread may give us a better opportunity to share information and understand what is going on. Many of the images I've seen on the Guardian are, well, just plain terrifying. Here's a video from the Guardian for those interested.

Although I'm not really familiar with these events I would still like to wish all our Australian members of the forum well and I hope you are at a safe distance from all this.

Please share your thoughts and comments here and feel free to update us with what is going on.

fires are natural and needed, not pleasant or safe to be near.

 

[sun rise]

fires are natural and needed, not pleasant or safe to be near.

These fire are far from ordinary and are out of control.

 

[TransmutingSoul]

There has been a lot of losses.

Regards Tony

 

[leov]

These fire are far from ordinary and are out of control.

Well, in nature fires always out of control. They out of control where they planned to be out of control.

 

[leov]

There has been a lot of losses.

Regards Tony

Loss of life, human and animal is very regrettable.

 

[Lyndon]

a good example of climate change gone berserk!!

 

[Revoltingest]

It's important for everyone to think of fire danger when building
& landscaping. I notice that a great many people do so in a
manner which makes them susceptible to fire. Flooding has
the same problem...especially building where they shouldn't.
Be careful & thoughtful, people.

 

[TransmutingSoul]

fires are natural and needed, not pleasant or safe to be near.

Well, in nature fires always out of control. They out of control where they planned to be out of control.

There is much more to it than that. Actually far to much for me to comment any further out of respect to all that have suffered from these events.

Regards Tony

 

[Lyndon]

The main reason for the fires is years and years of drought coupled with unseasonably hot temperatures

 

[sun rise]

The main reason for the fires is years and years of drought coupled with unseasonably hot temperatures

Yes. Disasters can happen no matter where one lives. Climate change is making the weather more extreme in many places.

Here's a recent map

 

[Dawnofhope]

I’m over in New Zealand over one thousand miles across the Tasman sea and we have the whole sky obscured by smoke from the Australian bush fire. Although approaching midday it’s like an eerie dawn or dusk with poor lighting. An elderly relative opines how it reminds him of the smoke in London during WWll after bombing raids by the NAZIs.

 

[sun rise]

The country experienced record breaking temperatures this week as residents experienced heats upwards of 40°C, with Eucla, in south-east Western Australia, hitting an outrageous 49.8 degrees Celsius (almost 122 F) yesterday, December 19.

Global Average Temperature Map Shows Australia Is Literally On Fire

temperature map from that site

 

[Dawnofhope]

Here’s a snippet from a news item about the smoke from the bush fires covering New Zealand

Blood red sun greets NZ on New Years Day as Australian bushfire smoke stains skies

TESS RAIT
Red skies over Taylor's Mistake Beach, Banks Peninsula.
New Zealanders woke to ominous scenes early on New Year's Day, with orange haze covering the sky and the sun stained blood red.

Bushfires in Australia are spewing a massive current of smoke across the Tasman towards New Zealand, and it's likely to continue for a while.

Imagery from the Japanese weather satellite Himawari-8 shows the blanket of smoke is wide enough to cover the entire South Island.

"It's been happening for quite some time since the Aussie bushfires have been going. At the moment it's definitely more noticeable, especially over the South Island," he said.

The haze is particularly obvious in Otago where a light yellow cloud cover gives the area a sepia-toned feel.

GLYN KERR
A blood red sky over Waiheke Island.
In Lyttleton, Christchurch, Dudley Jackson snapped an image of the rising sun with a deep orange hue.

Blood red sun greets NZ on New Years Day as Australian bushfire smoke stains skies

 

[leov]

There is much more to it than that. Actually far to much for me to comment any further out of respect to all that have suffered from these events.

Regards Tony

recently, our town was very close to several huge fires, including Rim Fire - Wikipedia
Ferguson Fire - Wikipedia snd a few others.

 

[Vinayaka]

I’m over in New Zealand over one thousand miles across the Tasman sea and we have the whole sky obscured by smoke from the Australian bush fire. Although approaching midday it’s like an eerie dawn or dusk with poor lighting. An elderly relative opines how it reminds him of the smoke in London during WWll after bombing raids by the NAZIs.

We get that here from fires a few hundred miles to the NW. People stay inside, and hospitals get busy. Do you have peope coming to emergency with asthma related problems?

 

[Subduction Zone]

Unbelievable! We had bad fires where I live in the summer before the last one. People with breathing problems were urged to stay indooors. Nowhere near as hot as Australia. For us the only "good" news was that the smoke kept the area from warming as far as predicted.

It looks like all they can do is hang on.

 

[Dawnofhope]

We get that here from fires a few hundred miles to the NW. People stay inside, and hospitals get busy. Do you have peope coming to emergency with asthma related problems?

I’m not working today but I imagine that will be a certainty. The smoke can be easily smelt so it may well trigger asthma attacks. We have high rates of asthma in NZ with previously many death but we’ve become very good at both prevention and managing acute episodes as you would expect from a developed nation. I just can’t imagine the extent of the damage and injury for our Australian cousins.

 

[Estro Felino]

Reminds me of...

 

[Vinayaka]

I’m not working today but I imagine that will be a certainty. The smoke can be easily smelt so it may well trigger asthma attacks. We have high rates of asthma in NZ with previously many death but we’ve become very good at both prevention and managing acute episodes as you would expect from a developed nation. I just can’t imagine the extent of the damage and injury for our Australian cousins.

What's the theory for high asthma rates there?