Bushfire smoke hiding the sun. 2.30pm on a ‘sunny day’.
The above photo shows how bad the smoke haze can be. The sun has trouble cutting through the smoke. I wonder now many millions of tons of greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide, those fires are adding to the atmosphere? How much wildlife is being lost. Koalas, kangaroos?
Yesterday, Australia recorded its hottest overall day ever.
Over three million ha of bushland has been destroyed by fire so far. Near us a fire of over 150 000 ha is burning out of control threatening a power station and a coal mine.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-12-18/australia-heatwave-registers-new-hottest-day-on-record-bom-says/11810632
Our Prime minister is on holiday in Hawaii. No one would want to deny the PM a holiday but right now he should be here and watch the heatwave coming over the next few days. The bushfires have linked up and now form a front of almost 3000kms.
our PM, Scott Morrison, (Scomo) soaking up a pleasant sun in Hawaii. Not a care in the world.
Photo: Scott Morrison has faced online criticism over a holiday, speculated to be in Hawaii. (AAP: Mick Tsikas)
In my state of NSW there are over a hundred fires burning and many of them are out of control.
At 5:30pm there are 100 bush & grass fires burning, 54 uncontained. Gospers Mountain remains at Emergency Warning. Dangerous conditions are forecast for tomorrow. With school holidays starting check your travel plans ¤t fire conditions along your route and your destination.
pic.twitter.com/hb7LHuC
EMERGENCY WARNING – Gospers Mtn (Lithgow & Hawkesbury LGA) Fire increasing Dargan & Clarence area. Fire in Valley View Rd, crossed Chifley Rd. If you’re in Dargan & Clarence area, it’s too late to leave. Seek shelter. Protect yourself from heat of fire. #nswrfs #nswfires #alert
pic.twitter.com/BkVC1b6…
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Tags: Australia, BOM, Bushfires, Hawaii, NSW, Prime Minister, Scomo, Scott Morrison, Smoke haze
This entry was posted on December 18, 2019 at 8:44 am and is filed under Gerard Oosterman. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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Oosterman Treats Blog 
December 18, 2019 at 9:20 am |
Bad Sco-Mo looked out that night
On the fires of Syden.
When the smoke flew round about
Deep and choking to breathe in.
Brightly shone the flames that night
And the heat was cruel.
So he took the first available flight
To soak in a Honolulu spa pooOOool.
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December 18, 2019 at 10:27 am |
A closer look at the photo, Scomo looks a bit tense, Jo. Perhaps he did not want a photo taken while wearing that Hawaiian garland.
I can’t say I am impressed with his choice of holiday destination, but… everyone to their own.
He will face his criticism when getting back.
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December 18, 2019 at 9:34 am |
I clicked “Like” – but no, I don’t like this situation at all. Just feeling helpless. Praying.
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December 18, 2019 at 10:30 am |
Let’s hope rain will come as predicted at Christmas time. It would be a blessing. Our gardens and surrounds are parched. The leaves hang down parched and dying for want of water.
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December 19, 2019 at 3:32 pm
Rain is really needed there, isn0t it? A friend of mine was telling me in her part of Australia it hasn’t rained for 4 years.
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December 18, 2019 at 11:13 am |
Scomo is totally irresponsible. He has no sense of proportion. His caucus should sack him. He does not feel any guilt whatsoever. While Rome is burning…….
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December 18, 2019 at 9:12 pm |
Scomo is way out of whack with the community and seems to think that his equally whacky hillbilly religion will somehow save the world.
He needs to understand that climate change is rea,l and happening with those mega fires proof of it.
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December 18, 2019 at 1:01 pm |
Just call him Nero
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December 18, 2019 at 9:16 pm |
Well said and so true.
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December 18, 2019 at 9:19 pm
Prime Minister of Australia get voted in with: “How Good is Australia?”Goes on holidays in Hawaii #ScoMo #auspol #AussieNero #WhereTheBloodyHellAreYou
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December 18, 2019 at 2:32 pm |
Tough situation, Gerard, fingers crossed for a soaking rain.
When you grow up in the US, you are always taught to look for a technological fix for any problem (whether or not that makes any sense) so I am hoping for a breakthrough in desalinization, because huge areas of the world are going to really need it. I read that Australia’s water reserves are at a record low right now?
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December 18, 2019 at 10:24 pm |
Sydney has a desalination plant and works very well. Our main water supply comes from a dam .That dam is now holding about 47% of water for mainly Sydney dwellers.
Some towns are now trucking in water and that is costly. The rain that was predicted for next weeks has now disappeared according to my weather forecasts.
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December 19, 2019 at 5:46 am
Too right, Gerard, it does not look like we are going to get the desired rain any time soon. Because of all these mega fires car and rail traffic is going to be interrupted more and more. What sort of a Christmas is this going to be? Sydney fireworks for New Years Eve will go ahead. How so?
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December 19, 2019 at 9:05 am
Perhaps the fireworks on New Years Eve is going ahead for purely commercial reasons. It brings in lots of tourists.
I reckon; if you have seen one firework you have seen them all. I just light a sparkle and run around the room most likely with Milo, and then wish myself ‘a happy new year’.
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December 19, 2019 at 6:45 am |
Scary. Sad.
Continued hopes, wishes, and prayers for the rains to come! And for those most affected by what has already happened.
(((HUGS)))
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December 19, 2019 at 9:01 am |
Yes, it is sad and it is casting a shadow over the coming Christmas. We don’t need even more shadows as the smoke and dust is doing a good job already. I was walking with Milo and the people looked tense and downcast. Some looked skywards perhaps waiting for burning embers to come down.
No far from here a local bowling club has been turned into an evacuation centre for those escaping the fires. Some local communities left escaping too late and have been advised to stay put. A nervous and gloomy night ahead for those now hoping the fire crews will save their homes if not their lives as well.
I noticed several shoppers loading up with enormous packets of toilet rolls. Perhaps some peoples’ greatest fear is to be evacuated to strange places and not have enough toilet paper.
In a way, it feels almost like a war. a war against flames and fire that seem uncontrollable and so erratic in nature the best of experts have difficulty in predicting where those fires will flare up next.
Hugs are needed now Carolyn.
Hugs to you too.
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December 19, 2019 at 2:04 pm |
While I offered a ‘like’ for your post, there certainly is nothing to like about the situation. Fires are terrifying. They’re not common here in Texas, but they have happened during drought, and all of the problems you’ve mentioned — smoke, displacement, death of wildlife — have been a part of them.
Of course fire can be a friend, too. I thought of your situation yesterday afternoon when I crossed a local bridge and looked off to the east, across Galveston Bay, where smoke was billowing in a couple of spots. The fires were burning in the Anahuac wildlife refuge, and of course they had been set: part of the well-thought out plan to nurture the land.
As for your prime minister: I’m no politician, but it seems to me his behavior is ill-considered. Surely at least one advisor might have suggested that lolling around on the beaches wouldn’t play too well with the people back home. The only explanations for his behavior would seem to be insensitivity, or stupidity. Neither is good.
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December 19, 2019 at 9:52 pm |
Here the latest from our PM and I quote.
“The Prime Minister Scott Morrison has said he “deeply regrets” any offence caused by his decision to take leave as bushfires burn across Australia.
Mr Morrison is overseas with his family at an undisclosed location, and has received criticism for going on holidays during a bushfire crisis from some Labor politicians.
His Coalition colleagues had insisted it is entirely appropriate, however this morning he issued a statement saying he would return to Sydney as soon as can be arranged.
“I deeply regret any offence caused to any of the many Australians affected by the terrible bushfires by my taking leave with family at this time,” it said.”
He was shamed into now deciding to return. Two volunteer fire fighters were killed last night when their truck hit a fallen tree and rolled. A terrible tragedy.
Those fires are so large they create their own weather patterns sucking in the oxygen it needs from all directions.
No rain in sight, Linda.
The indigenous Australians have been dealing with back-burning of the land for thousands of years but it is only now that their skill and understanding of the land is being accepted and used.
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December 21, 2019 at 9:29 am |
No one would want to deny the Prime Minister an overseas holiday?
I would.
To my mind, he definitely should have stayed in the country.
But many people can’t bring themselves to make sacrifices.
My belated condolences to you, Gerard, in the loss of Helvi. But then she isn’t entirely lost, is she; you’ll be feeling her presence all around you. From what I had read of her – sparkling, loyal and amusing.
So good to read your account of the baby possum;
kind-hearted Gerard.
Praying for rain
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December 21, 2019 at 10:00 pm |
While it is true what you say about Helvi being still around me, what would I not have given for some more time with her. It all went so quickly towards the end, Christine.
Yes, she was my loyal partner and gave me so much more than I gave her.
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