Damn I'm glad that I live in the mountains at the northern end of the state as even though I don't like the forecast 31C temp here it could be worse. 39C expected west of here down on the plains while down on the coastal strip to the east is expecting 35-36C and from south of Tamworth you're getting into the 40's while where I use to live in Sydney is expecting temps in the 44-46C range. :-O

Anyhow, I've got the weed spraying done this morning and as soon as I finish this coffee I'll be out there again to finish mowing before it gets too hot.

Currently it's 23C (feels like 22C) here.

Cheers.

Wiggo, I am not reading everything here, but except for having the yard mowed, it could be still burning, right?

So that should still be a concern, and next you could be more worried than me for only keeping your yard out of dangers way.

Make it a linedancer for only the act he could be carrying out, and next being disturbed, he could be falling down, and for that not any nonchalance either.

Sorry about that, for only making it yet another explanation to a couple of things.

We still only have the the Myall Creek Road fire down on the coast still going here in the NE corner of the state, but that's too far away to cause any smoke problems and we've now had a whole month without it (after 4 months of it).

As I sit back enjoying 1 of my beers a cousin of mine has just informed me that where I use to live down in Sydney is already at 45C while we're working on getting to 27C here ATM. :-O

Cheers.

Note- confronting video, swearing in audio.

Interviews with some of the people that videoed their survival in several of the fire storms over the last few months.

Black Summer.

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Grant
Darwin NT

Well the last few days' heat has added a few fires to the list in this region of the state from the escarpment to the coast in those small pockets of forest that wasn't burnt before (and back up to 63 state wide), but none of them are causing any smoke problem here even with this stiff easterly wind.

Well today started off here at 18C (felt like 16C) and currently it's 17C (feels like 13C) with 23C being our expected max (though unless we can get some sunshine we're not going to get close to that).

It was a good morning/early afternoon though to be back under the car today removing and undoing more stuff from under the old girl (not much left to do now and the tranny can be slid out) and it was nice doing that without laying in a pool of sweat (like when I battled for near 2hrs taking the tail shaft out last week).

Cheers.

Well it didn't get any warmer here in my last post that day, but we did get 11mm of rain, while yesterday wasn't any better temp wise starting at 13C (felt like 10C) and falling well short of the expected 20C at 16C (felt like 13C) while being dry.

Today kicked off here at a damp and overcast 14C (felt like 11C) that by 9am had only gone up a degree, but I did have to put a raincoat on to read the rain gauge which had 2mm in it (YTD:135.5mm), though this lite rain is expected to be constant all day and into the night (actually it's expected to rain here for the next 5 days at least and by then my yard will be a jungle) while I also doubt that we'll get to our expected max of 19C today.

On the fire front the state's fire map is looking much better and this extended rain event (covering Queensland, N.S.W. and into Victoria) is very likely to make that map look even better over the next few days.

Anyhow, I'm going in search of my gumboots as I may need them soon. ;-)

Cheers.

After a few cool & damp days here yesterday saw us actually getting up to 23C (due to some sunshine finally getting through) and we're now up to 140.5mm of rain this year while we expect a wet 21C here today.

We're also down to 43 active fires in this state now (just 3 left in the northern half of the state), but MVA's, flooding and downed trees are keeping our fire crews busy these days.

There's also a BBQ on a few doors down the hill today and even though I'm ready for it the rain may get here in time to cancel that seeing as it's an outdoor event.

Anyhow, it's time for another coffee. ;-)

Cheers.

After a wet weekend here (and state wide) the Myall Creek Road fire (east of here) has finally been declared as being out which only leaves the fire around the Port Macquairie airport as the only active fire north of Sydney. The bushfire count for this state is now down to 33 thanks to an extreme east coast wet weather event.

We're now up to 172.5mm here for this year (the best result we've had in the last 5yrs so far), but there were plenty of places down on the coast (from border to border) that received more than that in 1 day which has caused plenty of problems down there and more of the wet stuff is expected every day at least until next Sunday.

Anyhow, I better finish this coffee and get into the house to do some cleaning up as new tenants will be turning up soon.

BTW, between Vanuatu and New Caledonia a tropical cyclone called "Uesi" has formed and currently is heading in the direction of Brisbane ATM.

Cheers.

Well we're down to 27 active bush fires in this state with all bar 3 of them being south of Canberra now.

We've been copping some rain as well with our total for the year so far now up to 201mm which is already over half of what we got last year and more of it is expected over the next 6 days, but I might get a chance to mow on Saturday if I'm lucky (it needs doing now, but the mower will need floats attached to it ATM).

Another muggy and quite wet low to mid 20C day is expected here again.

Cheers.

One very long running fire is finally out-

A peat fire burning in Port Macquarie for 210 days has, on Wednesday, been declared completely out in the wake of the weekend deluge.
The Lindfield Park Road fire near the Port Macquarie Airport, in New South Wales, started on July 18, 2019 and burnt 400 hectares of peat under the surface — a significant amount given the total fire ground was 858 hectares.

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Grant
Darwin NT

We're down to just 24 active bushfires now in this state (all way down south) as we here take a break from the rain for a few hours.

We're up to 258mm so far this year and only another 39mm is required to match last year's total (that could be passed by the end of this month).

I've also just got to move some furniture back and mop where it is to have the house fully clean again, but I think that that will have to wait until tomorrow when the old body should be ready for some more punishment.

Cheers.

Well I near crippled myself, but I got the house finished and the yard mowed (it could do with another run at a notch or 2 lower), over a very muggy weekend here while Sunday's storms took our year's total to 268.5mm (about 10.5" and we havn't done that well in 5yrs) though the constant power outages I could've done without.

Our fire fighters here have been kept busy with people sliding their vehicles off the roads and dealing with fallen trees since those bushfires went out.

Today got off to a muggy 18C start while 28C is expected.

Anyhow, I'm going to take it easy today and wait for the rain/storms to return this afternoon.

Cheers.

It'd be nice if you'd send some of that rain up here. Our Wet season is proving to be rather dry so far.
Half way through February, and only 37mm (and most of that in one hit). 372mm is what we usually get for the month.

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Grant
Darwin NT

I wish that I could Grant, but this rain is destined for the Darling River, and we're about to get hit again so it's likely that we'll have another evening of power problems.

Cheers.

After getting smashed late yesterday afternoon by 2 thunderstorms colliding overhead, which dropped an inch in about 35-40mins (at least there were no power problems this time), we're having an overly bright start today (after a couple of weeks of overcast conditions I don't think that it should be so bright).

The mercury here reached our expected max of 28C (felt like 29C) just before those storms hit and today got of to a 15C start with 28C expected again along with a good chance of more showers and storms.

Currently it's a muggy 22C (feels like 23C) and there was 31.5mm in the gauge this morning taking us up to 177.5mm for the month and 300mm for this year. That leaves just 7.25mm to go before we pass last year's appalling total of 307.25mm and then the next milestone will be passing 2018's paltry 532.5mm mark.

Cheers.

Kangaroo Island before and after photos.
One of my brothers spent 3 weeks there with the Army helping clean up.
There were 2 things that really stuck out in his mind- one was the smell of burnt meat, for the whole time he was there. The other was the silence- it wasn't just the larger animals that were killed, but all the birds and insects as well. When nothing was happening, and if there was no wind, it was absolutely silent. Even with a light wind blowing it was generally quiet as there was no rustling of leaves or movement of small twigs.

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Grant
Darwin NT

Kangaroo Island before and after photos.
One of my brothers spent 3 weeks there with the Army helping clean up.
There were 2 things that really stuck out in his mind- one was the smell of burnt meat, for the whole time he was there. The other was the silence- it wasn't just the larger animals that were killed, but all the birds and insects as well. When nothing was happening, and if there was no wind, it was absolutely silent. Even with a light wind blowing it was generally quiet as there was no rustling of leaves or movement of small twigs.

Sadly in a lot of places introduced weeds will now flourish as the heat during some of these bushfires has totally destroyed pockets of native flora in so many places. :-(

I'm now wondering how the Wollemi pines went, but thankfully we have been able to re-cultivate these over the years, though whether we can regenerate in those in their native region will be another story for the future discussion.

Cheers.

A good article with photos and satellite images looking at the timeline & scale of the fires.

The fires from above.

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Grant
Darwin NT

Currently it's a muggy 22C (feels like 23C) and there was 31.5mm in the gauge this morning taking us up to 177.5mm for the month and 300mm for this year. That leaves just 7.25mm to go before we pass last year's appalling total of 307.25mm and then the next milestone will be passing 2018's paltry 532.5mm mark.

Can you put that in perspective for me please. What is your average annual rainfall, and how much of that is expected in January & February?

Ta

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

Seeing as most of the rain over the last 2 days has missed us here (except for a few odd drops) I'll be out again with the mower later this morning trying to get my jungle more under control before more rain returns for the weekend. I'll also have to put a cover on my freshly washed doona and put it back on the bed as it's 9C (feels like 7C) here this morning before the sun starts to rise with 26C expected.

Currently it's a muggy 22C (feels like 23C) and there was 31.5mm in the gauge this morning taking us up to 177.5mm for the month and 300mm for this year. That leaves just 7.25mm to go before we pass last year's appalling total of 307.25mm and then the next milestone will be passing 2018's paltry 532.5mm mark.

Can you put that in perspective for me please. What is your average annual rainfall, and how much of that is expected in January & February?

Ta

Average yearly rainfall here is around 950mm Rob while January, February and March (the last 3 months of our "Wet" season here) usually get around 120mm each.

Cheers.