Jesus, Mike, that's rough. We've had fires and smoke up this way, but clearly not to the extent that you guys have. I don't watch the news and didn't really have a grasp of how bad it was down there.
Hope you and yours remain healthy and you're back imaging again soon.
Quote:
Originally Posted by casstony
Time for an astro holiday west of the great dividing range?
Warragul is mostly clear of smoke but my home town of Orbost is right in the thick of it.
It's pretty bad and the realisation that it is going to stay this way for a while yet is more than a little distressing actually We will hopefully have some masks tomorrow. It's turning into a bit of a nightmare really...
It looks like it'll be this way for several days yet. The BOM optimistically forecasts that the haze will clear from Monday, but they've been saying that for the last fortnight - that it'll clear in 2-3 days - and it hasn't yet. It's been making me feel a bit nauseated and sleep quite poorly.
I've sealed up my place fairly well, including taping plastic over the gas wall furnace, which was acting as a big inlet for smoke.
Plus, I made a DIY air purifier. Take a cheap 30cm box fan, some plastic sheet, gaffer tape and a spare car cabin filter I had lying around, and, voila, a very basic air purifier is the result.
Given the makeshift nature, and that it makes air more breathable, I've dubbed it the "Apollo 13":
It looks like it'll be this way for several days yet. The BOM optimistically forecasts that the haze will clear from Monday, but they've been saying that for the last fortnight - that it'll clear in 2-3 days - and it hasn't yet. It's been making me feel a bit nauseated and sleep quite poorly.
I've sealed up my place fairly well, including taping plastic over the gas wall furnace, which was acting as a big inlet for smoke.
Plus, I made a DIY air purifier. Take a cheap 30cm box fan, some plastic sheet, gaffer tape and a spare car cabin filter I had lying around, and, voila, a very basic air purifier is the result.
Given the makeshift nature, and that it makes air more breathable, I've dubbed it the "Apollo 13":
......
Plus, I made a DIY air purifier. Take a cheap 30cm box fan, some plastic sheet, gaffer tape and a spare car cabin filter I had lying around, and, voila, a very basic air purifier is the result.
Given the makeshift nature, and that it makes air more breathable, I've dubbed it the "Apollo 13": https://i.ibb.co/DL1rzFk/DIY-1.jpghttps://i.ibb.co/pQm69Ww/DIY-2.jpg
I'm going to run it over night in the bedroom and see if it makes any appreciable difference.
Great idea on the filtered fan .
Our house has ducted evaporative cooling but that can only be used when the outside air clears or it just brings the smoke in. I am running the motorhome rooftop aircon which is fully filtered and have ducted that into the house, keeps us cooler and the smoke out.
I also covered the extraction fans in the bathrooms as the smoke was coming in through them.
The smoke has eased a little this morning ...until the wind patterns bring it all back in....wind, we need wind, any wind is good regardless of direction...but it's bad for the fires, can't win!
I’d heard that the air quality wasn’t great up in the ACT but didn’t realise it had gotten that bad.
Here in Melbourne we’ve had some intermittent smokey days (it’s hazy today) but it’s got nothing on what’s happening up further north.
Hope everyone up there remains safe and breath easy.
Today is NOT evil, but as usual, all the mongrels have bought all the HEPA or P2 filters in bulk - obviously to resell at a scumbag profit.
Latest shipment of 200 hit Total Tools at 6am. All gone by 6:10. They need to place a limit per person!
All I have is surgical face masks - better than nothing, but not by much.
No coughing here today - yet - but the headache started early. Yesterday my throat was excruciating, and I felt close to syncope at one point in time walking through the non-circulating valley of Woden/Phillip - that was just 1km to pick up my car from the dealer.
The smoke has eased a little this morning ...until the wind patterns bring it all back in....wind, we need wind, any wind is good regardless of direction...but it's bad for the fires, can't win!
Mike
Ah the irony eh Mike. I remember your moaning about wind at Wallaroo years go
Yeah, wind and rain. At least Sunday through Tuesday are looking wet. Please dear lord, PLEASE.
As David said it's been that bad on and off in Sydney for a number of weeks now. Those masks are pretty ineffective so best to try to stay indoors as much as possible and refrain from any exercise. You can use vaporisers and mist machines if you have problem sleeping. That fixes particulates in the air and will clear your bedroom a bit. Keep one by your bedside.
As David said it's been that bad on and off in Sydney for a number of weeks now. Those masks are pretty ineffective so best to try to stay indoors as much as possible and refrain from any exercise. You can use vaporisers and mist machines if you have problem sleeping. That fixes particulates in the air and will clear your bedroom a bit. Keep one by your bedside.
We were in Sydney on 15/16 Dec and back again on the 29 Dec and on those days it seemed the smoke haze was up higher, not down low, so easier to breath (still some nice coloured suns in the sky)..? I am assuming winds had been able to lift it up and dilute/mix it more?
A week or so ago we had smoke from the NSW fires and more recently from Kangaroo Island. Nothing dramatic but certainly no imaging possible. Seeing was exceptional though. Pity about the lack of detail.
On a serious note, this has to be unprecedented. In all the years I have been watching the weather/viewing sat images I have never seen this sort of smoke over our continent or for that matter stretching all the way to New Zealand. Currently the land of the long brown cloud. The fires this year have covered more land than others in the past from what I have read. I hope that this will not be happening again next summer or in the summers of the future. Otherwise I might have to look at living in NZ. My wife is petrified about the fire danger now as we live in the Adelaide Hills. Even though we have cleaned up and made our plans as usual.
A normal clear day in Canberra has an Air Quality Index of 20 to 28 ....
At the moment Monash, ACT is 433. Canberra City 318
Club Terrace in the middle of the fire zone in East Gippsland is 417.....
Those profiteering ought have their nuts cut off. A servo in Bega yesterday charging $44 for 6 bottle of water.... As Lewis said, bulk buyers seeking to profit from others misery should be stopped...
Very smoky in Warragul today due to easterly winds.
I wonder if the next few years may not be as bad for fires since much of the dividing range is going to be burnt this year?
I guess this is nature's response to those opposing hazard reduction burns during cooler months. Apparently 500 million wild animals are thought to have perished so far including entire populations of some species endemic to some national parks.
Annie's image below .... where are these people now?
Same goes for the 10/50 rules... that should be changed to 20/100 at least...
Very smoky in Warragul today due to easterly winds.
I wonder if the next few years may not be as bad for fires since much of the dividing range is going to be burnt this year?
I think compared to past years it will be "bad" every year going forward, just different places burning...and in some cases the same places burning....
I guess this is nature's response to those opposing hazard reduction burns during cooler months.
Matt I've heard this claim but are there any accurate figures illustrating the amount/frequency of hazard reduction done, say over the past 10 or 20 years, to get a good picture of any reduction? If it has reduced, is there anything to correlate this with moisture content and viability of actually being able to undertake hazard reduction safely? My understanding is that it has reduced but mainly due to a shorter safe window of operation?
Matt I've heard this claim but are there any accurate figures illustrating the amount/frequency of hazard reduction done, say over the past 10 or 20 years, to get a good picture of any reduction? If it has reduced, is there anything to correlate this with moisture content and viability of actually being able to undertake hazard reduction safely? My understanding is that it has reduced but mainly due to a shorter safe window of operation?
Mike
Mike, I think the problem is that the 10/50 rule is not sufficient in areas where mature trees and homes coexist. Under the 10/50 rule, providing you are in an approved area, you can remove trees and vegetation within 10 metres of your house and clear the undergrowth within 50 metres of habitable structures.
This is not sufficient when the mature eucalypts tower over houses at 30 metres. My last rural property had 5 trees within 12 metres of the house that were more than 30 metres tall, I was not even allowed to prune overhanging branches by the Snowy River Shire Council.... Only when 130kph winds felled one of the trees and nearly killed my neighbours did I get permission to get the chainsaw out...
The councils continue to prosecute anyone clearing proper firebreaks even though it has been shown that those 'illegal' clearings were only just sufficient to protect the homes and indeed the lives of the residents.
Maybe, just maybe after tomorrow's devastation some of these lawmakers will grow some common sense.
We will hopefully have some masks tomorrow. It's turning into a bit of a nightmare really...
...until the wind patterns bring it all back in....wind, we need wind, any wind is good regardless of direction...but it's bad for the fires, can't win!
yep indeed, I did 
