18 hours ago
3
Melbourne woke to the smell of smoke and a thin veil of ash on Saturday as firefighters battled more than 30 active blazes moving through the state.
More than 115 homes and buildings have been razed in fires across Victoria, but emergency authorities warned the numbers are conservative and more homes will be confirmed lost in days to come.
A firefighting aircraft circles the Longwood fire in Victoria as temperatures accelerated fire emergencies.Credit: Jason South
Fire authorities estimate that more than 300,000 hectares have been blackened across the state during the heatwave, with reports of ash floating through open doors emerging from several areas across the metropolitan region – from Reservoir to Croydon, even into the CBD.
“Smoke from the fires has reached all the way over to New Zealand,” weather bureau meteorologist Daniel Sherwin-Simpson said.
“That’s going to be well aloft in the atmosphere, so I doubt it’s causing any air quality issues for them. But they’ll be aware of haze high up in the sky over today, and possibly into the future, depending on how the fires go.”
A visibility meter at the airport in Horsham – which measures horizontal visibility across a certain area – can usually see as far as 40 kilometres to 50 kilometres, Sherwin-Simpson said.
Loading
On Friday evening, as fires burned in nearby Natimuk, the visibility got as low as 1500 metres.
“It was pretty smoky out there,” weather bureau meteorologist Daniel Sherwin-Simpson told this masthead. “There was a lot of smoke from that Natimuk fire in that area.”
“There is also quite a bit of dust haze around at the moment. I noticed this morning there was more dust than smoke. I think because we’ve had that tiny bit of rainfall, that washed a lot of dust down with it, but it wasn’t properly washed away because there wasn’t a lot of rain.
“Melbourne Airport would have had that too, although it’s hard to tell if that’s dust or smoke. Their visibility got down to around 5500 metres at 9.30pm Friday night. Ballarat got a lot of smoke from the Skipton fire too.
“We’ve seen large parts of the state covered in smoke. It’s moved over the city, but it’s pretty far aloft, which brought us those gloomy orange skies.”
Sherwin-Simpson warned that although the smell of smoke has already reached Melbourne, it’s due to get a lot heavier across the state tomorrow as a new high-pressure system moves in.
“Yesterday [Friday], we saw that low-pressure system which brought hot weather and windy conditions, but lifted smoke up into the atmosphere, so it hasn’t been too bad over the city. As we move into Sunday, though, we’re going to see a broad high-pressure ridge move across the state.
“Once that moves over, it will bring more settled weather, but that can trap the smoke in. We could see it carry a bit further across the state, and pool through valleys. It is dependent on how the fires go today though.”
He said the smoke was likely to drift north of the fires, affecting the air quality in those areas more than others.
A break from the severe heatwave hitting the CBD this week, Melbourne is due to reach a high of 25 degrees on Saturday, with a low of 15 degrees to come on Saturday night. In the fire-torn Longwood area, a high of 30 degrees is expected, but conditions remain hazy.
Melbourne CBD scorched through 40+ degree days, sparking fires around the state. This image was taken on Wednesday, before smoke from the fires made its way to the CBD. Credit: Eddie Jim
Speaking to this masthead from her home early Saturday morning, one Melbourne-based reader said she noticed ash coming into her bathroom through an exhaust fan above.
“I wasn’t expecting that in suburban Reservoir,” she said. “This morning I threw open the doors and windows to welcome in that lovely 20-degree breeze until I realised it wasn’t so lovely. The wind coming in my front door smelled of smoke, so I quickly shut everything back up again.
“Even with all the doors and windows shut, there is a smell of smoke in my home. It’s definitely not clearing. I just heard someone walking down the street coughing.”
Be the first to know when major news happens. Sign up for breaking news alerts on email or turn on notifications in the app.
Most Viewed in National
Loading
