Hi Wiggo. Thank you for the links. They give me a much better insight to the fires. The TV link is especially helpful, as it has many clips. There is nothing better than photographs and video to help us truly understand what you are facing.

I hope the power has stayed on. Due to the frequent severe weather, including tornadoes, blizzards and hailstorms that are a part of life here in the Great Plains region of North America, I realize what a mess it can be if the lines are down. I suspect, as happens here, the repair crews are overwhelmed, which means it could be some time before they can get your power restored.

So, I hope you are reading this, Wiggo, because it means you are still (or back) on the "grid". :-)

Cheers.

I wish all of Australia a very good day, and, to all who celebrate Christmas, a very Merry Christmas.
Also, I wish for you cooler days and refreshing rain!

Cheers.

Well those storms and the rain on Xmas Eve certainly put a damper on those fires to the east of here so even with these easterly winds we had a smoke free Xmas and Boxing Day is looking good so far too.

All 4 extra fire trucks that were here left the area on Xmas Eve while our crews spent Xmas Day at home, but our 2 trucks did go out again this morning. The cool overcast weather has been a big relief as well.

The big Bees Nest fire that started on the 5th Sept., the Busbys Flat and Rappville fires that got going in early Oct. are now officially out, as well as several smaller fires in the area, which has taken the count down to just 17 active fires now (a big improvement on 49).

Anyhow, I've got a few things to do before we here get back into some more festive activities. ;-)

Cheers.

No sign of rain over the next few days, although there's meant to be some rain about next week.
Looks like it's going to be another extremely dry month. Usual average 251mm, 55mm so far (and 43mm of that in just 3 falls).

Looking at 28° to 36° for the next couple of days, then 26° to 34° on the days we're meant to be getting some rain.

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Grant
Darwin NT

At least Wiggo has some rain
https://www.dw.com/en/fire-engulfs-chilean-port-city-of-valparaiso/a-51790460

We got 20mm here (MTD:32.5mm/YTD:307.25mm and both figures are down by at least a third), but properties around this side of the Butterleaf National Park fire (where our river here begins and the park starts about 6km away to the SE) reported numbers of 130-180mm with even higher figures estimated further east well into the park itself (no wonder we've been smoke free yesterday and today).

After just having walked down to the river and along the newly graded fire track it actually looks like a river again, and flowing bank to bank full instead of the stagnant stream it has been of late (no walking across without getting wet now), so now with the much easier access down there for me it looks like it could be good fishing down there in a few days time (just to let the river settle down a bit after that big inflow of cause).

Yes it seems Gary that most of the world is on fire ATM and whether these forests will recover from them is still to be seen due to how much hotter they're burning at now (a lot of our native flora relies on fires to germinate, but the temp of these fires are well beyond what's required to do that).

Cheers.

Good news here this morning, the Butterleaf National Park fire has been declared out and the fire station has been stood down for 10 days of rest (unless another local emergency pops up of cause) so I'm catching up on 3 weeks worth of washing seeing as I can now hang it out in smoke free conditions.

It was another great night for sleeping comfortably last night and Good Friday kicked off here at 13C (felt like 11C) while a max of 26C is expected for today so after the washing is done and away (it shouldn't take that long to dry) I might get some mowing done (damn that wet stuff can make that green stuff grow).

Anyhow, I hope that you're all enjoying the festive season and my 1st load of washing should be ready to hang out.

Cheers.

I'm glad to hear that Wiggo. :)

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With each crime and every kindness we birth our future.

After 3 smoke free days the easterly breeze/wind has moved slightly northwards bringing with it the smoke from the fires that are still burning to the NE of here (luckily those are all deep within national park boundaries, but the smoke is annoying). :-(

Today got underway here at a slightly hazy 11C (felt like 8C) and 27C is expected while it's currently a smokey 24C (feels like 21C), but at least I can give the books a bit of a break for a few days while the test cricket is on.

Cheers.

After a rather strange afternoon yesterday (it was so overcast it felt like it was about 19:15, even at 15:00 in the afternoon), we finally got a good storm. Most of the storm actually missed us, but the edge we got lasted for about 30min with plenty of rain & wind to cool things down.

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Grant
Darwin NT

Sou Eastern NSW is now ablaze. Not only can you see the smoke plumes on the satellite images, but it' so thick it's visible on the weather radar images.
Along with the fires still in the north, existing fires in South Australia, and new fires in Vic with multiple warnings all over the place, particularly in the East.

256km Radar loop
(Shows NSW & Vic fires).

BoM Satellite viewer.


Edit-East Gippsland warnings map is not a pretty sight.



Nor is the one for the Greater Sydney area.

Greater Sydney fire risk. (A bit large for here)

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Grant
Darwin NT

Sadly another fire fighter has lost his life when a "fire tornado" lifted his 10-12 tonne RFS truck and flipped it onto its roof and became part of the fire, 2 of his crew suffered burns to their arms and faces and were airlifted out. A supervisor's vehicle (probably a Toyota Hilux dual cab 4x4) was also flipped in the same area with the driver of it receiving minor injuries.

[edit] Reports in now say that the fire truck had its rear end lifted and flipped over the front while the crew were inside it, the driver (a 28yr old dad) was killed.

We've been having smoke free mornings here with the stiff breeze/lite wind coming in just south of east, but that is moving just north of east late morning/afternoon bringing the smoke back in (that fire is about 18km to the NE of here). Yesterday began here at a clear 13C (felt like 11C) and finished at a smokey 30C (felt like 26C) while today started at a clear 11C (felt like 10C) with a smokey 32C expected. At 9am it was a clear 20C (felt like 19C), about 20mins ago.

Cheers.

Cobargo has been badly damaged by fire (two people, believed to be a father and son, were killed by the bushfire that tore through the town of Cobargo, on the NSW south coast. A third person remains unaccounted for), and many other small towns/villages in NSW & Vic have been damaged (some slightly, some possibly completely).
It's been a horror of a day, and it's not over yet.

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Grant
Darwin NT

Victoria- 7 fires presently at Emergency level.
NSW- 7 fires at Watch and Act.

Weather today is expected to be similar to yesterday's, so not looking good.

Main street of Cobargo.



Many affected areas are still inaccessible or too dangerous to access, so it will be some time before the extent and severity of yesterdays damage can be assessed.

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Grant
Darwin NT

Weather today is expected to be similar to yesterday's, so not looking good.

Current forecast is for a somewhat better day today than yesterday, but then tomorrow things will probably be even worse than yesterday with an even greater area at risk.

Concerning pictures ahead, especially starting in WA for tomorrow. Catastrophic fire danger is on the forecast in the south of the state. Then attention will turn back to South Australia, where blazes are still burning in the south of the state there. Extreme fire danger is on the forecast.

And then for the south-east, severe fire danger is back on the way, as we start the weekend. So that's going to be in the north-east of New South Wales and also right across the north-east of Victoria and
right across the south-east of New South Wales.

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Grant
Darwin NT

Well we got a 7 day break in, but the boys are back out there again with the small truck on our NE line and the large truck out to our west at a fire at Wellingrove today, as all the out of area trucks (if they havn't gone back to their own problems) have moved to the SW now as the woody hills from Inverell and down to Tamworth down along the western slopes have been lit up by the dry thunderstorms that have been happening over the last few days. There won't be much left of this state come Easter. :-(

Anyhow, the smoke is back with us again (it was like a thick fog here this morning) and with 32C expected here today (along with the chance of more of them dry storms), but I'm not sure how long I'll be able to stay locked up today as it's already 28C outside and 26C in here on regurgitated air that been going through the rigs (goodness knows what it is downstairs and I'm not going down there yet to find out), though I'll see how I go (and maybe the expected noon wind change will take this smoke away).

Yes, things are going south down south, but damn, most of these places on fire now in this state havn't seen a flame since 2001-02.

Cheers.

Fire spread prediction for Sat Jan 4th 2020.

Come Sunday there could quite a few small towns & villages that no longer exist, many areas being advised to leave now. If the fire arrives there it won't be possible to defend the town.

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Grant
Darwin NT

Fire spread prediction for Sat Jan 4th 2020.

Come Sunday there could quite a few small towns & villages that no longer exist, many areas being advised to leave now. If the fire arrives there it won't be possible to defend the town.

Sunday is expected to be the next bad day here (not that there's much else left to burn at this end of the state). :-(

Cheers.

Winds are picking up in NSW, many fires now visible on weather Radar, many areas with temperatures in mid 40°s and extremely low humidity.

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Grant
Darwin NT

It was nice to wake up to clear air here this morning (we got started off at 13C and 34C is expected), but tomorrow's temp range is expected to be 16-35C with the gusty SE-E change hitting here around mid afternoon with more possible dry storms.

More than 4 million hectares (9.88 million acres) have now been burnt out in this state alone and over 6 million hectares (14.8 million acres) nation wide while they have also now claimed 20 lives (including three volunteer firefighters). :-(

Australian fires: A visual guide to the bushfire crisis.

Anyhow it's time for some lunch as the mercury hits 31C (feels like 28C) here.

Cheers.