But Melbourne is just smoky so far 2020-01-06

As the maps in my previous post show, Melbourne is not on fire, but we have the smoke from fires in East Gippsland and Tasmania (map at the bottom of this post). Today INSIDE my 8th floor apartment it smells like I'm sitting downwind from a campfire - you know the chair where the smoke is blowing right at it and the person in the chair keeps moving around to try and get out of the smoke? It smells like that. It's more fun at a campfire.

Visibility from my balcony is usually fantastic - about 48k/30 miles - this photo is at dusk, so slightly less visibility, but enough to give you an idea.

Below is what it looks like today - with visibility less than 2k/1 mile, I'm guessing. We have a bit of cloud cover today, but what is visible in the photo is smoke.

This has implications for those of us with asthma; according to the EPA our air quality rating has been increasingly poor since this morning which means:
"The air is probably dusty or smoky. Sensitive groups may experience symptoms like coughing or shortness of breath.

• If you are sensitive to air pollution, spend less time outside in the smoke or dust and follow your treatment plan. Reduce prolonged or heavy physical activity.
• If you are coughing or short of breath, avoid being outside in the smoke or dust.
• Close your windows and doors to keep smoke and dust out of your home."

Australian governments are serious about getting people to prepare for bushfires - everyone needs to have a plan for evacuation. While Melbourne is not currently at risk, if fire gets into the city it would be devastating. Today I've been thinking there's pretty much no chance of getting out of the city, so where are the nearest lakes/rivers streams I could hop into and hope for the best?

And now some relevant links and info:
Here's an ad that's running regularly on TV to give you a sense of what it's like to be in one, and how the government is encouraging people to HAVE A PLAN: https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/national/victorias-new-bushfire-survival-ad/video/7c4ce6bbc35dec913fad4efe4cdde049

Here's a video heat map of the fires in East Gippsland to get some sense of what a huge bushfire looks like when it's burning: https://www.news.com.au/national/raw-aerial-footage-of-victorian-fire/video/4fa0ea76c8fbea784e37dd4ef1613a0c

The map below shows where East Gippsland is relative to Melbourne. Although the weather report today says our smoke is from the fires in Tasmania, which is to our south.If you put your cursor on the map below you can move the map up or down, or resize it to see all of Australia.



If you're interested in live updates you can go here:
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2020/jan/06/nsw-fires-live-updates-victoria-bushfires-south-australia-fire-sa-australian-bushfire-near-me-rfs-cfa-latest-news-morrison