On Sunday I drove with my wife down to Canberra from Lake Macquarie, the amount of smoke in the air progressively got thicker the further south that we got from Sydney. We stayed at the Canberra REX Hotel in the CBD where the main entrance doors had been locked and access could only be gained through a side entrance, the gaps at the base of all the doors had been sealed with wet towels in an effort to stop the smoke from getting in. We had dinner in their sky view restaurant on the top floor where normally you would get a great view over the city, we couldn't see more than a hundred meters because it was like being in the middle of a pea soup fog. Overnight I heard a couple of rain showers and when I got up I opened the curtains and amazingly most of the smoke had cleared, when we went down to the car it was covered in a thick coating of brown dirt. We not only feel for the people who are currently dealing with the immediate threat and losses from these fires but also for all those who are in areas where just breathing could be impacting their health.
Yeah Doug after experiencing what the people in the fire areas are going through with the smoke I can understand why there would be a short supply of masks. My wife nearly walked into a woman who was wearing some sort of breathing apparatus coming out of the toilets at Trappers in Goulburn it gave her a bit of a shock as she wasnt really expecting it. Even when we were inside or driving with the recirculated air on my eyes were stinging and watering making life pretty uncomfortable, when we finally got back home yesterday the smell of the smoke had gotten into everything. I heard on the radio that the Brumbies rugby side had been relocated to Newcastle so that they could train in cleaner air, it hasnt really been that great up here either but I can tell you its a hell of a lot better than what those guys are going through down that way.
I live in Cooma (120 km South from Canberra). We have had some absolute blinders of smoke clouds come in lately. The scary part is that we don't know where the fire is - the RFS website ells us that at the time the nearest fire was about 35 km away, yet we got a concentrated black cloud of smoke probably only 1 km wide a the widest. It descended on us within minutes. No flashing lights, no sirens, no notification from RFS, so we had to assume that the fire(s) were not near us at the time. Next day there was at least 8 mm of what looked like soil and soot over EVERYTHING. We try to keep a clean house but there is no way you can walk outside and then come back in without bringing some soot in as well. I have cleaned the driveway, paths and patios 3 times so far, each time knowing that there will be more to come. Each time the clouds have come down, they turned the day into total, and I mean TOTAL darkness. Not a sign of the sun at all. Apart from being filthy and scary, for someone who has a severe Asthma condition, it is not fun trying to clean it all up.
And then one of our two town water storage tanks decided to sh1t itself and dump 5 million litres of water onto some houses (luckily not mine). But we still have a home (albeit covered in soot and crud (which will be very difficult to remove). There are probably over a thousand people in Oz who now have no home left to go back to....
Apparently there was a Pyrocumulus Collapse"" of the fire cloud at about 8pm on Saturday. We were at Moss Vale, the sky suddenly went dark and high winds buffeted the van with burnt leaves falling around. At Berrima it suddenly went dark on them, they couldn't see across the street.
Apparently there was a Pyrocumulus Collapse"" of the fire cloud at about 8pm on Saturday. We were at Moss Vale, the sky suddenly went dark and high winds buffeted the van with burnt leaves falling around. At Berrima it suddenly went dark on them, they couldn't see across the street.
WOW!!!! Well we live in Brisbane and we are virtually smoke free at present.
Unbelievable comments, but they are real.
I guess the unknown question is how much more is to come during the months of Jan. Feb. Mar.
In ""my view"" it is all about MOTHER NATURE....things like Floods Drought and Bushfires etc etc.
Not the other thing .... you know what I am talking about.
I guess that one would have to experience the experience to fully comprehend the experience that our follow Aussies have suffered.( Best way I can describe my feelings)
Apparently there was a Pyrocumulus Collapse"" of the fire cloud at about 8pm on Saturday. We were at Moss Vale, the sky suddenly went dark and high winds buffeted the van with burnt leaves falling around. At Berrima it suddenly went dark on them, they couldn't see across the street.
If you have been to Herclaneum then you see what a proper pyrocumulus collapse is. More impressive than Pompeii!
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These are pictures of the "Pyro-Cumulus" cloud before it collapsed. Taken from where we are camped at the Moss Vale Show grounds. The pictures are taken by an evacuee also camped near us. The fun could be about to start again about 11pm when the hot winds turn and come from the south.
