INFERNO !

[Nungali]

I can hear thunder in the distant west !   Radar shows a small area of red (rain) over the  fire front  and no lightening strikes .

 

Come on rain !

 

 

 

[Nintendao]

🌧🌧🌧🌧🌧🌧

[ilumairen]

I'm waiting on an update about the rain.. 

[Nungali]

It started to spit ( thats a 'bad habit' that the weather has here when you are desperate for rain ...... dribble - then nothing ) , then stopped, then a bit more ... then light rain !  Then slightly heavier - nearly 'medium' .

 

I was out dancing naked  in it in the front paddock

 

 

 

must have rained lightly here for about 15 mins !

 

and on the radar map, it certainly looked like heavier rain on the fire front .  I have no idea yet what the effect on it was . This morning its overcast and misty/smokey .

 

Weather predicts possible light  thunderstorms each afternoon for a few days .

 

Aside ;     3 days ago I saw black cockatoos - a sign of rain  ( people dispute this, but after more than 30 years of observation I can affirm it . of course, it isnt just 'seeing' one, it is about the way they behave , even the way they fly ) and I thought , well, there you go, two black cockatoos, and no signs or predictions of rain at all ... but they 'came through'.

 

In the past I have observed , in a drought time , a fleeting glimpse of this behaviour , then a few days latter -  a few spots of rain .

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Nungali]

2 hours ago, ilumairen said:

I'm waiting on an update about the rain.. 

 

Not waiting on the update  about the young lady offering me 'pleasure' ???

 

 

( I reckon its going to be dinner  ....  and she is a vegan   !    

 

probably got the wording a bit wrong, being German ... my German neighbor said this the other day in front of a few people ;

 

" The Police man, he  stepped out on the road and then he pulled me off . "

 

Everyone ;        "Whaaaat ?"

 

His GF ;  " Pulled you OVER  the saying is ;  the policeman pulled you over ."

 

 

[ilumairen]

2 minutes ago, Nungali said:

 

Not waiting on the update  about the young lady offering me 'pleasure' ???

 

Nah, I'm more interested in the roof possums. 

 

2 minutes ago, Nungali said:

 

( I reckon its going to be dinner  ....  and she is a vegan   !    

 

probably got the wording a bit wrong, being German ... my German neighbor said this the other day in front of a few people ;

 

" The Police man, he  stepped out on the road and then he pulled me off . "

 

Everyone ;        "Whaaaat ?"

 

His GF ;  " Pulled you OVER  the saying is ;  the policeman pulled you over ."

 

 

 

 

[Nungali]

41 minutes ago, ilumairen said:

 

Nah, I'm more interested in the roof possums. 

 

 

When its hot they lay on their back with their legs sprawled in funny angles and their tails hanging over their hammock -   I had to make a shadecloth hammock in there as the edge isnt wide enough and they kept falling out of bed .  

 

On the really hot day they looked beat ... so I put an ice bottle out the fridge in there   - possum air con .   

[ilumairen]

[Nungali]

Things are cool and quiet .  'Sentinel hot spots'  sat map shows no fire front developing .

 

But using this tool , we can see the extent of  recent fires ; up the east coast of Australia , across New Guinea and up into Indonesia !  

 

 

 

https://sentinel.ga.gov.au/#/

[Nungali]

Fires died right down. A wind came up today, from a bad direction and fire flared up  resulting in a spot 'out of control' further into the valley and two more near the main  inland to coast road , nearer to Dorrigo township.

 

More rain appears to be coming - if it doesnt  evaporate out  (as temps have risen again and now wind is stronger , hopefully it is wind preceding a rain front  ) .

 

Here is my (hopeful ? ) prediction, from experience in and observation in nature .

 

Holes in the ground starting to appear everywhere . Cicads are emerging .  I saw one of the buggers yesterday  - yes, an amazing and beautiful creation, but not so much in a plague year , which this might be . The observation is, years back, a drought was so bad that even the huge trees in the grove surrounding the cabin started to die back, they usually do okay as the root far into the sub soil. This was serious as even rain NOW  won't get down there and save them ( our soil has a characteristic of being waterlogged and hard to dry out, but once  it does it  is hard to wet and absorb water  ).

 

It did start to rain, in a pattern I have seen many times  in the dry; it tries to rain but it cant , then each time its a bit more successful, then cycles of good rain, eventually.  Now, going back to this other dry, I then began to notice heaps of cicada holes, they  climbed up into the trees and started their racket . The rain came and ran over the dried out ground and into all these cicada holes  and down to where the holes ended where the cicadas had been living, on he tree roots.  The water went directly down straight to the roots and the networks of tunnels  and within 4 - 4  days the trees where spouting new green leaves .  And the drought hungry birds where having a protein feast. 

 

So I think, over the next few days and more, more holes , more cicadas, increasing rain periods a little each day . And dampen the fires .

 

But I havent seen or heard a single black cockatoo today   .     ?    Today's 'rain through' looks about 2 hrs away on radar .

[Nungali]

.... that little rain front fizzed out .... a few drops .  I was up the back hill at a friends place, a few of us having dinner there on the verandah. We where counting  between the lightening and thunder , first one far off, then later another a fair bit closer and then we thought it might be just starting to rain. So our host goes out into the yard , holds her hand up above her head, palm up and says " I think I can feel a bit of rain ..... "

 

KA - BLAM    !    a gigantic lightening and thunder strike together . Wow ! She was all brightly shinning silver like an angel ... then ducked and ran back in . That was VERY close .  Then it git windy ... couldnt see or smell anything .

 

This morning on the fire map there is a fire symbol, 2 hills behind her house, I guess from that lightening strike .  But clicking on it it says 'not applicable '   ?    Apparently they  got  the air tanker in on the other fire a bit west, that was from a lightening strike too , its still listed as 'out of control' , in a fairly  inaccessible area ... at 'The Crescent Complex' , the geological remains  of an old volcano core .

 

More  people left the valley yesterday in  their packed up cars and trailers . I noticed a neighbour has a new camping trailer all packed up in his driveway.

 

The next few days should be cooler, with occasional light showers increasing  ... then back to the usual .

 

 

 

 

[Earl Grey]

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/21/world/australia/fires-water-tankers-climate-change.html

[Nungali]

I was thinking about this yesterday

 

 

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-11-15/are-bigger-water-bombers-the-answer-to-bushfire-woes/11705502

 

We have about 260 military aircraft , one would think that instead of sitting around doing nothing or playing war games, some type of conversions  to fire fighting  would make sense .

 

 

[Nungali]

A weekend reprieve .  A few light showers passed through, temps lower .  But still,  the fire to the west has still grown to  340 ha . No more rain predicted .

[Nungali]

The little rain we had is gone. It didnt get the fire.  The fire is still spreading my way  along the north side  escarpment  of the valley spotting east .

 

Neighbours just rang and asked me where I was going  tonight   ???   According to them its an evacuation.   Asking the source it was some mothers at the local school .          Might be right, I will take my advice from the fire service and myself thanks.  I would be more nervous if I had kids tough.

 

Its about 15 km away now and hopped a few ridges in the last day .  Its still coded blue , yellow means leave now . Its listed as 'being controlled' yet is spreading towards inhabited areas.  ? Tomorrow is hotter and winds are  in the least favourable direction . I have stuff in a car in town, I might move my motorcycle there tomorrow.   And pack the other  car for a quick getaway before I go to sleep , just in case .

 

Other spots are red  and  places have flared up again or new ones started . The news is all a buzz as some are 'near' Sydney.  So I suppose efforts will be focused there and everywhere else .

 

Unfortunately some more fire fighters have been injured        

 

 

[Geof Nanto]

Bushfires hit Wat Buddha Dhamma, one of Australia’s oldest Buddhist monasteries

 

I spent over a year living at the Wat Buddha Dhamma way back in the late 1980's. I have fond memories of the place.  I hope it has survived without too much damage. The meditation hall there is a beautiful building, as are some of the hand crafted monk's kutis and mudbrick dwellings. 

 

[Nungali]

Yesterday the fire got a little closer... then more smoke . My neighbours who evacuated into town rang me  just before sunset ;

 

"What going on, why are you still out there, from town we ca see a huge mushroom cloud of smoke towering into the air and burnt leaves are falling . "

 

So I drove up a hill to get a better view, it was hard to see what was cloud, what was smoke what was sunset and what was fire. Then burnt leaves and little lumps of charcoal started to fall.  Cars kept going past my place out of the valley. some packed up. Since it was near dark and I  would not even be able to tell if embers where falling or not, I left .

 

Sometimes the fire maps do not get updated for a whole half day . This one was last updated 11 hrs ago !   No updates today so far, its all from last night and  spot fires have spread alarmingly close , about 10km to the SW.

 

There was a fire meeting yesterday and fire services said they have thrown all they have at it but it isnt stopping  (yet is listed as 'being controlled'  ??? )  . They fear it will cross to the south side of the valley and continue east, thats the bad side. It looks like it did that last night . So now fires to the NW and SW IN the valley.   They say it may impact the south side of the local town, where it abuts forest. The small local hospital will have to be evacuated .

 

I came back this morning and its covered in burnt leaves , I did a hose down, grabbed some stuff I forgot ( a pillow and blankets fer Gawds sake - I forgot them ! )

 

I still cant tell how close or where the fires are, so I am going back to town soon - I and  some of my stuff are staying on the north side, across the river , supposedly a safer spot , and near the show ground, the main safety point .  

 

Just as well the wind is down to 10kph and the temps cool .

 

Fire sevices said they where worried that the fire might hit the town southern edges, nearby inhabited valleys and then continue east all the way to the coast, they said this happened in the 60s .

 

Now hardly any cars are leaving, maybe they all gone ....  the smoke is a different colour now and its eerily  quiet  -  before the 'storm' ?

 

I'm outa here .

[Nungali]

 

Fire spotting everywhere, now 8 km to west. Imagine tomorrow with 40 deg and SW and NW winds. Last few days been raining burnt leaves and little chunks of charcoal  ... in easterly winds ! 

 

I  swapped refuges to a coastal place.   I am staying at friends very comfortable  mod cons large house near Little Bay SW Rocks. WOW!

 

 

Got my own near private beach

 

As I heard the  fire  services area Chief  say when urging people to leave if not FULLY prepared and realised

" Personally,  I would rather be spending a few days at the beach myself than being here ."  and  " We have thrown everything we have at it , water bombing choppers and water and  retardant plane but we havent been able to stop it ."

 

( STILL makes we wonder then why this fire is still listed as 'being controlled'  ?  )

 

He also said " We are worried about it crossing to the south side of the valley " (it already has ), then it might impact the township. We have told the hospital they might have to evacuate if it does . There is also the chance that it might do what it did in the '60s, burn around the back of town and continue until it hits the coast ."

 

On the way out I passed fire vehicles, utes with water carriers, huge flat bed trucks with mega dozers and a couple of Army trucks .

[Nungali]

We seem to be having incidents of nasty build ups then last minute reprieves .  But it gets closer each time . The last cycle turned out not as bad as expected . It was not as hot and windy as predicted .Fire services and  others did a great job at the top of the valley , Including some locals with dozers and  heavy machinery.    I was talking to   one and it  sounded pretty bad for them , he listed some names and said they helped save our houses. He said it was 'intense' and that  there are dead kolas all around on the ground  The whole top end of the valley is burnt out .  No air support at all. They  mostly have small truck and  limited water.  The dont have the resources to fight or stop the fire, they use tactics, back burning and clearing , often are manually clearing with hand tools and rakes and trying to divert it, but the wind keeps changing . So they go around  putting putting out spot fires.  The main part of the rain came just as they where about to back burn the main front with a favourable wind change  but the rain got heavier, and that made it too damp to work, the  back burn  fire didnt take ,  so now there is no barrier from where it is burning, but at a very low rate and intensity . 

 

There is no water up there,  ( hence all the utes and trucks with water cages in them I passed on the way out)  there has been no air support at all , steep mostly inaccessible country  and now roads and trails blocked  with heaps of fallen burnt  trees everywhere. 

 

Now its cold and has rained a bit, looks the same for a few days so I have come home.   But they say after this few days , all we need is 3 or 4 hot dry days, then some wind and it will be back again , this time closer.

[Nungali]

Isnt life 'interesting ' ! 

 

Its been raining light through most of the night  and this morning constantly and getting heavier enough that I didnt go into town for early sat morning MA .

 

So I checked the Satellite map , thin cloud moving north ( a  from the south moving wet front is very good at the moment , it might draw more 'nasty'  wet weather up from the Southern Ocean . )  But it looks like light cloud on the map , so I searched for rain on radar.  Nothing ! 

 

The zooming in I see a little dark green dot (medium rain)   going back and forwards east to west  up and down the valley below the escarpment .

 

Looks like BIG  MUM   looking after me again .... giving everything  (just in this specific area ) a good hose down 

 

Mahmi Balabaleh Bugglebear  ! 

 

( 'Mother  helpful person   thankyou '    , yes, the Bundgalung word for mother is   Mah-mi       { and a Koala is a 'buddhabar'  - Buddha bear   } )

 

[Nungali]

Good being home in cool weather for a few days . I went for a drive up the valley , fire came very close to some houses that are surrounded by double width bulldozer fire breaks , one right up to 30 m from back door .  Further up it got dangerous, where the valley is steep and has cliffs, the burnt vegetation has caused rockfalls .

 

Then more spot fires started . I could see a huge tower of smoke up the valley.

 

Now a heat wave is predicted for a few days so I decided to go back to the coast , stayed in town last night and  this morning  I awoke to a  horrible thick  acrid smoke.  New fire . now east of town !  Evacuate !    Thick smoke and 40 deg temps for several days  - no thanks  About  70 km south down the coast, the smoke started to clear .

 

Its nice down here .   Go to that little beach later .

 

Light rain predicted for Monday ....  Christmas looks bleak for holiday makers , heaps have cancelled , according to the resorts and holiday parks .

[Nungali]

The east coast of Australia is on fire and our prime Minister went on holidays to Hawaii . His spokeswoman said it was a good decision as he   has his hands on the pulse of what the people want .

 

Wot ?

 

He also said firefighters WANT to do what they are doing voluntarily. Peeps be screaming him down ,  " My husband comes home totally exhausted ,  filthy and smoke effected every day for weeks , he has to leave me and the kids and OUR home  in a fire danger zone to go and save others , they have little equipment , one uniform that either gets worn dirty and smelly the next day or puts it on wet from washing ... he does NOT   WANT to do this, he HAS to do this, becasue no one else is . Soon him and all the others will collapse, what happens then . ?"

 

We found out that the Russians have offered, transporter planes that can dump HUGE amounts of water and refill in moments . The offer has been there for years since or first bad mega fire disaster. They could have instantly put out many of these fires , they could have saved the town of Rappville from being destroyed ,  they could have saved Nymbodia .... stopped the houses from burning down NE of Sydney .  But the government has chosen not to even respond to this Russian offer .!

 

Instead the PM just took delivery of  millions of dollars of small military fighter craft  for the Air Force that drop bombs and fire  , then pissed off to Hawaii.

 

 

Edited December 20, 2019 by Nungali

[Nungali]

He will NEVER recover from this !  Goodbye 'Scomo' !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

" Protesters have gathered outside the Prime Minister’s house again waiting for him to return from Hawaii.

Hundreds of people have descended on Kirribili House demanding Scott Morrison hurry up and get home.

They also marched across the Sydney Harbour Bridge holding signs.

It comes after people were arrested and a girl was filmed being told off by a police officer when protesters took to Mr Morrison’s on Thursday.

They said they were going to camp out until he returned, before they got moved on. "

 

Now we have   'Mega-fires' ;

 

"  ... it's the biggest forest fire in Australian history ... "

 

"What happens in fires, they create their own winds and they create their own weather patterns. The flames are in the smoke and they're up in the air. There's nothing for them to be burning in the air. They're just up there. An aerial fire was now floating independently of the surface fire ... "

 

" ... "The thing that's going to make it stop is when there's nothing left to burn. "

• ALERT LEVEL:
  Watch and Act
• LOCATION:
  Wollemi National Park
• COUNCIL AREA:
  Hawkesbury
• STATUS:
  Out of control
• TYPE:
  Bush Fire
• FIRE:
  Yes
• SIZE:
  484541 ha

The Gospers Mountain 'mega fire' started from a single ignition point. It has now destroyed an area seven times the size of Singapore.

https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/the-monster-a-short-history-of-australia-s-biggest-forest-fire-20191218-p53l4y.html

 

 

 

- cooler weather and some medium rain predicted for 4 days around Xmas in my area .

 

I will go back home tomorrow .

[silent thunder]

fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck~!

[Nungali]

.... 2 fires join to make a bigger fire  , then   several join to make a huge fire ,  (in just one area ) south west of Sydney. To th'e NW of Sydney there is already a ' Mega - fire ' ..... yesterday :

 

" ... two bushfires in the Blue Mountains have joined together and the NSW Rural Fire Service (RFS) is not ruling out the blazes connecting with the huge Gospers Mountain "mega fire".

 

Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said on Sunday morning the fires at Green Wattle Creek and Ruined Castle had joined together.

The two massive blazes now all but encircle Sydney to the west, only separated by a narrow 12km strip north of Katoomba. "

 

Last night on the late news I had heard that they joined  together .

 

" Efforts across the state have been bolstered by the Australian Defence Force, with support including airlifting people out of at-risk areas in the South Coast and Blue Mountains on Saturday.

 

"Residents were evacuated from Fishermans Paradise and Sassafras on the South Coast by helicopters operating out of HMAS Albatross naval base at Nowra. "

 

 

 

Old map - these are the two that spread  and joined ;

 

Edited December 22, 2019 by Nungali