Bushfire smoke from Australia has drifted all the way to New Zealand, and many residents of the country woke up to a hazy orange sky and a blood red sun on new year’s day.
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Meteorologist Aidan Pyselman said that smoke has been drifting across the Tasman for “quite some time”, but that it has become more noticeable in recent days thanks to north-westerly winds.
Satellite imagery from earlier this morning shows the extent of the smoke currently billowing over our neighbours:
Smoke which has travelled around 2,000km across the Tasman Sea can clearly be seen over the lower South Island. Visibility in the smoke haze is as low as 10km in the worst affected areas. Southwesterlies are expected to gradually flush the smoke laden air away from late today ^AC pic.twitter.com/C5k0D4xvyu
— MetService (@MetService) December 31, 2019
An incredible photograph shows the blood red sun rising over Taylors Mistake beach near Christchurch this morning:
Residents of Dunedin saw yellow skies on new year’s day thanks to the bushfire smoke haze:
Dunedin 2020: Blade Runner Edition. pic.twitter.com/1qmU8Hbrra
— Chris (@opetheater) December 31, 2019
“This is the moment we all stop and have a good think about how to protect our environment,” wrote an Instagram user named Kristina, who said she could smell the smoke from Signal Hill.
New Zealand’s MetService also shared footage of a hazy sunrise over Wanaka yesterday:
A SnapitHD webcam captured the hazy sunrise over Wanaka this morning which many others across the country also experienced. This is due to smoke from the Australian bush fires being carried across the Tasman by an unbroken northwest flow. ^AC pic.twitter.com/Bo5T8LgOuJ
— MetService (@MetService) December 31, 2019
The smoke from a continent scale fire disaster has crossed the sea — New Zealand Twitter is flooded with images of orange skies above the South Island, and the smoke shows clearly in this view from space… 1/N pic.twitter.com/u7mJ8P7KPt
— Richard Easther (@REasther) December 31, 2019
Meteorologists expect the smoke to “peter out” over the next few days with a south-westerly change, and say that it is unlikely to affect weather or temperatures in New Zealand.
New South Wales has opened up its Public Information and Inquiry Centre to members of the public to assist with bushfire information – further details can be found here.
Victoria’s Country Fire Association also lists a number of resources for residents on its website.
