“There is also quite a bit of dust haze around at the moment. I noticed this morning there was more dust than smoke. I think because we’ve had that tiny bit of rainfall, that washed a lot of dust down with it, but it wasn’t properly washed away because there wasn’t a lot of rain.
“Melbourne Airport would have had that too, although it’s hard to tell if that’s dust or smoke. Their visibility got down to around 5500 metres at 9.30pm Friday night. Ballarat got a lot of smoke from the Skipton fire too.
“We’ve seen large parts of the state covered in smoke. It’s moved over the city, but it’s pretty far aloft, which brought us those gloomy orange skies.”
Sherwin-Simpson warned that although the smell of smoke has already reached Melbourne, it’s due to get a lot heavier across the state tomorrow as a new high-pressure system moves in.
“Yesterday [Friday], we saw that low-pressure system which brought hot weather and windy conditions, but lifted smoke up into the atmosphere, so it hasn’t been too bad over the city. As we move into Sunday, though, we’re going to see a broad high-pressure ridge move across the state.
“Once that moves over, it will bring more settled weather, but that can trap the smoke in. We could see it carry a bit further across the state, and pool through valleys. It is dependent on how the fires go today though.”
He said the smoke was likely to drift north of the fires, affecting the air quality in those areas more than others.
A break from the severe heatwave hitting the CBD this week, Melbourne is due to reach a high of 25 degrees on Saturday, with a low of 15 degrees to come on Saturday night. In the fire-torn Longwood area, a high of 30 degrees is expected, but conditions remain hazy.
Melbourne CBD scorched through 40+ degree days, sparking fires around the state. This image was taken on Wednesday, before smoke from the fires made its way to the CBD. Credit: Eddie Jim
Speaking to this masthead from her home early Saturday morning, one Melbourne-based reader said she noticed ash coming into her bathroom through an exhaust fan above.
“I wasn’t expecting that in suburban Reservoir,” she said. “This morning I threw open the doors and windows to welcome in that lovely 20-degree breeze until I realised it wasn’t so lovely. The wind coming in my front door smelled of smoke, so I quickly shut everything back up again.
“Even with all the doors and windows shut, there is a smell of smoke in my home. It’s definitely not clearing. I just heard someone walking down the street coughing.”
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