Bush fires down under!

[andy3055]

How are the guys down there doing? Anyone effected by the fires?

[John B]

http://satview.bom.gov.au/

It gives you an idea of the size and scale. Look for the east coast. There's entire cities under the thick smoke. The first concern are people who have died, been injured and their families, and homes destroyed, but beyond that, millions of people have severely reduced air quality varying through the day.

https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/fire-information/fires-near-me

This also shows listed and monitored fires throughout NSW.

[AlfBaz]

It's 7pm here in the Illawarra. Earlier this afternoon we had some strong gusts of wind which dumped lumps of charcoal 1 to 2cm in size on our street. We could hardly see the end of the street and the nearest fire is nearly 100km away

[Someone]

http://satview.bom.gov.au/

It gives you an idea of the size and scale. Look for the east coast. There's entire cities under the thick smoke. The first concern are people who have died, been injured and their families, and homes destroyed, but beyond that, millions of people have severely reduced air quality varying through the day.

https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/fire-information/fires-near-me

This also shows listed and monitored fires throughout NSW.

It can be hard to pick smoke from the clouds, and the rfs site doesn't let you view history of the events. Satellites for vegetation mapping capture it fairly well:

All the darkened sections of the forest are the extent of the Sydney fires as of 12 hours ago.

How are the guys down there doing? Anyone effected by the fires?

A significant percentage of the population (almost 1/4 of the country lives in Sydney alone) will be impacted directly by the fires. Locally we had a small fire and a power outage for a half a day, so nothing too worrying. But Sydney could be headed for serious problems if the major highways are simultaneously cut and/or power stations taken offline.

[Electro Detective]

Bad and sad news 

That said, who's up for a few minutes 'quality bonding time' with the arsonist no lifers that started them ? 

[Lord of nothing]

How are the guys down there doing?

Well if you have a Bush Fire down there you should Visit a Doctor for a Medial exam. 

[TerraHertz]

Today's map of areas burned near Sydney.
From https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/  Select 'View full-screen map', click the hamburger to get rid of the event list, zoom with scroll wheel. Map updates regularly, sometimes a few shaded sections vanish during updates.


Atmospheric particulates
https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/particulates/surface/level/overlay=pm10/orthographic=-214.18,-28.51,1821


Atmospheric CO (carbon monoxide, from low-temp combustion)
https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/chem/surface/level/overlay=cosc/orthographic=-219.35,-28.63,2048


Mostly this is due to an extreme and ongoing drought, making the bush very very dry. Here's a creek bed somewhere not far from my place, on a day walk a couple of weeks ago.


The larger pools still hold water, but zero creek flow. The walk out of there is an hour, up hill in dense bush on barely a track. That day I was retrieving 30Kg of tools (since I think it will likely burn this summer) and the trip had to be done. Sky full of smoke haze so no way to tell if a fire was starting up nearby. It was scary, and I left early.

Lots of smoke haze days the last few weeks in Sydney. Couple of shots on 20191210:

Bare Island at La Perouse


Georges River near my place.


Today (Sat) I was up in the Blue Mtns. Took some shots at the Three Sisters, looking to the burned areas to the Sth of Katoomba. At least that front of that burn appears to be extinguished.


But other fire fronts are still going. Later on Saturday I was at Lawson, at a commercial storage unit on the edge of the bush. The fire front to the Nth of the highway apparently reached the Grose Valley, and this was the result.


 That is not a cumulus cloud, it's a huge hot smoke updraft, from a large amount of bush going whump. The photo really doesn't capture the scale. Soon after that there were charred leaves falling from the sky. Black leaves can be found all over Sydney. They are not 'burned', rather carbonized by great heat in low oxygen conditions. Carried very high by updrafts like that, then flutter down far away.
Fire alerts were calling for emergency evacuation of Leura, not far from us.


It could be worse. Overall the weather has been calm for weeks. Only a few brief moments of wind, and most days are relatively cool for this time of year. A few hot ones, but definitely not _hottest_ever_ as the BOM claims. Ref: http://joannenova.com.au/2019/12/hottest-ever-day-in-australia-especially-if-you-ignore-history/   and later.

It's just DRY.  If we get sustained strong wind in this dryness... shudder.

This has happened before btw. Google 'Europe's Hunger Stones'. Both the Maunder Miinimum and Little Ice Age in the Middle Ages included severe droughts in the early stages. The rivers in Europe dried up, crops failed, millions starved. People carved laments in the rocks exposed well below normal river water levels. "If you see these words, weep." Those stones are exposed again now. And the Sun is now going into a deep Minimum, expected to be as bad or worse than the Maunder Minimum.

Most of my favorite walking areas are toast. Kanangra-Boyd, Newnes, Budawangs... Dammit. By the time they are recovered, I'll be too old to walk there.  Assuming this Solar Minimum drought doesn't go on so long they all turn into desert.

Oh yeah, and much of Sydney's water catchment area is now burned. This is really going to screw the already severe water shortage situation. So go ahead, add a few more million water consumers via immigration over the next few years, why don't you?

[andy3055]

Too bad! It looks like the fires are worse there if not the same as in CA.