This is truly awful. Again today the Sydney Basin, the Central Coast of New South Wales and the Hawkesbury River are under a thick smoke haze from bushfires. This is a photo looking over Terrigal taken at 11.30am today. This is the worst it has been. It is stinking hot but the air is completely still so the smoke lingers. The air is full of particles. There is ash falling in the swimming pool. There are 130 bushfires burning in NSW alone. Even with all the doors and windows shut the smell gets into the house. The whole of the Central Coast smells like a giant ashtray. It is hazardous to go out. Apparently 4 hours outside in this environment is the equivalent of smoking 20 cigarettes. My eyes are watering and I keep sneezing.
We desperately need rain to dampen the fires and strong winds to disperse the smoke. The problem is that strong winds would fan the flames. Strong winds are forecast for Monday but that means we will have to endure these conditions for three more days.
To all the climate change deniers this is what we can expect going forward. This maybe the new normal. We have to act globally now and even now maybe too late.
Below are screenshots from the excellent NSW Rural Fire Service app-Fires near me.
The first shows the fires over just northern NSW as at 12.10pm today, Thursday.
The second shows the fires near Terrigal -the big and, as of now, the out of control fire in the national park in yellow-about 30kms away is causing the smoke here in Terrigal.
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