The lovely smell of spring....not!

[Peterthecactusguy]

that might put them out, but sometimes it can make them worse depending how dry it is, and which way the wind blows.

[John C]

That doesn't look good! The picture is quite fascinating actually, but that doesn't make it good. Hopefully conditions will change and it will be under control soon!

[SnowFella]

Well, with the current change there's every chance that firefighters will get the upper hand though it might take some time. Even that big fire up north had some rainfall today that helped get things more manageable, stands at over 50 000 hectares burnt in just that fire though.
According to the news there's currently just over 120 fires going in the state but all are either contained or not threathening rural communities.
Quite an insane cange in weather too to be honest, yesterday I was cooking with 47C/116.6F and today it only reached a mere 26C/78.8F...poor little plants won't know what to make of it I fear

[Peterthecactusguy]

how do you think mine feel that were outside? below 0C ond day way above it a few days later... It was in the 20s F before and it was 75F today..

as for the fires that's good to hear. I have seen "clouds" made by fires before. They can create lighting which makes more fires.. (strange but true)

[SnowFella]

Bit more manageable now than it was just over a week ago, lower temperatures and higher humidity has helped alot. Though I have to admit the humidity is alittle much to live with, 98%rh overnight
And here's a contrast for you, down south we just had a heatwave go through while up north folks are starting to think about growing gills! Reports today in the news of some places up north getting 1000mm of rain in 48 hours, yep that's almost 40 inches, and with more still coming! Plus some mini tornadoes going though Bundaberg. Mother nature ain't being kind to us Aussies right now it seems

[Peterthecactusguy]

gonna say, It's flooding in parts of Australia, so that must have put out the fires in some of those places anyway.

[SnowFella]

Some parts are under water now, unfortunately starting to cause some deaths as people stupidly try driving through flooded streets or enter flood water on foot.
Even got airlifts going on up north to evacuate ppl from affected areas.

Been raining constantly since early morning here in Sydney, not really heavily yet but that's apparently to come sometime tonight. Taken my precautions already and cleaned out some gutters/downpipes, pumped the pool down to lower levels and layed out a drainage line to keep the pool decking from overflowing like it did last summer.
Guess it will be the first real test of the new outdoors bed's drainage, poor plants got scorced one week and now getting drowned!

Edit: might just of spoken to soon here, New's just reported my area out west as being potentially at flood alert come tonight with up to 175mm's of rain expected overnight combined with strong winds. Could turn into a long night to say the least if that eventuates.

[Peterthecactusguy]

yeah, someone I know from Australia that isn't on this forum posted pics of his street. It was underwater. I dont know how much rain has fallen where he lives, but our rivers are currently flooding or near flooding stage. Its been raining for three days in a row.

[SnowFella]

And here we go again! Dry and warm winter has made for some of the worst conditions in years apparently and it's already kicking off.
Seen evacuations and road closures today from 2 fires only a few miles away that are threathening properties, can see the smoke plume from the backyard if I step outside. Not good conditions for the firefighters to deal with it either as it's pretty darn windy and warm

http://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/dsp_content.cfm?cat_id=683
https://www.facebook.com/#!/nswrfs

Quick snap from the backyard looking north, excuse the hand in the frame but I had to shade the lens or all I would of caught is lensflare.

[SnowFella]

Today's effort from the backyard, hot and gusty conditions created a nightmare for our local firefighters. The smoke in the photos would be a combination from 2 separate fires, one some 80km's away and the other no more than 35km's away. Unfortunately several homes were lost today, no casualties reported as yet but it will be a miracle if everyone impacted by this made it out alright.

24mm wideangle view


300mm zoom of just the sun through the smoke. Camera maxed out it's shutter speed at 1/4000sec but still didn't really overblow the exposure.

[Eutow_Intermedium]

=^~^=

Dude ! Fella

My internet has been down for a little just over a week , only just been able to get the Technician down to repair the cable and connection outside.

All the time my net has been down I have been thinking about you.

Stay safe my brother !

.

Slightly scary pics you have there. I feel for all those people that ahve been affected by these horendous wildfires.

[SnowFella]

It did get bad with 200 odd houses lost and unfortunately atleast one casualty, I say atleast one as there's breaking news right now that an airframe involved in fighting these fires have crashed but there's as yet no information about the pilot or passengers.
It could of been oh so much worse though, conditions yesterday was horrid with strong winds and low humidity but through the hard work of our firefighters combined with some luck NSW got through the day without any further property losses.

Caught one of the "heroes" of the day last night on it's way back from a day at the firefront, unfortunately I had the wrong lens on the camera so the photo doesn't do it justice.

Gypsy Lady heading home for a well deserved overnight break.

[SnowFella]

Bad news about the pilot, found at the crash site deceased. R.I.P.

[SnowFella]

A post on Facebook from our regional fire service brought back memories from this time last year, bout mid October I put in a post wondering where my spring had gone to as it was snowing up the mountains.
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=27522
"Funny" enough the same township that last year was brought to a standstill from unseasonal snowfall was this year brought to a standstill from unseasonal fires.

Here's what the NSW RFS posted up this afternoon, maybe not exactly the same spot but would not be more than a few km's apart and both facing west.

[gemhunter178]

That's.....quite a stark difference..oh my!