tiabunna's photos with the keyword: 31/12/2019

The scene as the New Year's Eve fires headed toward Batemans Bay. At this stage we were fortunate, as the fire seen here went to the opposite side of the Bay. There have been further rounds of fire weather, which fortunately did not directly impact our area, though we considered it prudent on one of them to move to the local Evacuation Centre. It is concerning that scientists expect that, with the global temperature rise of already 1.02 C (Australia 1.44 C since 1910) , events that were once a decade in the 19th century are now more likely to be as frequent as 2.8 per decade.

These people (in their thousands) are the real heroes of the current fires - they are volunteer fire fighters, some of whom now have been going for over 100 days and with no real end in sight. These two fire trucks stopped for a breather near our place late in the day, after having started at 6AM. The locals provided them with tea, coffee and food.

This is one of the main problems with bushfires - they generate enough heat and convection to carry half burnt or even burning leaves, twigs and bark for considerable distances. This leads to "spot fires" which, depending on the conditions, can begin quite a few kilometers beyond the fire front.

Looking back on 2020, which began for us with raging bushfires covering huge areas nearby, it wasn't a great start - and the year didn't improve. I wandered down to the beach on 31 December 2019, when the main part of the smoke and fires had cleared us and could hardly believe seeing this elderly couple sitting on the beach contemplating the distance (or the coming year?) through the smoke! Best contemplated large. In the PiPs: * people watching the smoke on 30 December 2019 * smoke rising behind neighbouring houses on 31 December 2019 * light through the smoke when the wind changed direction and blew it our way. Wishing everyone (and ipernity) all the best for 2021. Let's all hope for good health and for better things in the New Year.

[NOTES UPDATED] The record-breaking 2019-2020 bushfires in eastern Australia burnt an estimated 17 million hectares (5.3 million in the State of NSW where I live). New Years' Eve was totally forgettable, as a wind change rolled up the coast, moving the smoke and ash from the fires directly across us. This is how the colour looked at the time, with the daylight filtered red by the smoke.