Looking for recommendations of where to travel for a few days to a week with the family to escape the Sydney smoke. Have small children <1.5YO and need to get them (and the missus) at least out of the house for a little while.
Would prefer somewhere where we could drive to and maybe get an air bnb.
Does this include ducted, not sure if they work on the same principles for filtering air?
It should. All air con units (afaik) have a filtering stage so the unit itself doesn't get gunked up. But that might also depend on how often the unit's decided and when the filters were last cleaned/replaced, for private home ones. Commercial ones should generally have ongoing servicing contracts so shouldn't be a worry.
My workspace in 1PSQ (an 18 month old office building) isn't filtering the air very well. A definite smell of wood smoke and I have a headache and my asthma is flaring up.
It's 5 star green rated so I assume the AC & filters must be good but they aren't coping.
OP: New Zealand, Oberon, Orange???
That really shouldn't be happening. I'm in a really (think 50yr?) old office in the city and not a whiff of smoke till I step outside.
Maybe my sense of smell is just really dead though.
my friend just got back from NZ, our smoke has reached there too :(
I can smell the smoke in our air con office building, the other day was giving me a headache
Maybe now's a good time to invest in an air purifier! I've found it helps tremendously with my asthma and little one, but it is that much more jarring when you step outside and realise how smokey it is.
Nope. Even out to sea people on a cruise ship have reported choking smoke.
And its as far as new Zealand now.
The fires are now all over the country.
Good luck.
The air quality map https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/topics/air/current-air-quality/air-quality-index-values suggests Albury or Orange
The map of fires across NSW https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/fire-information/fires-near-me and the potential for them to spread, suggests New Zealand.
satview.bom.gov.au
Provides a good indication of where the smoke is, and is updated every ten minutes.
I am literally sitting in Leura in the Blue Mountains 5km from the Ruined Castle fire and the air is perfectly clear.
See bluemountains.sensors.net.au for live readings.
The smoke is blown east and settles in the Sydney basin. I have been in town for work, and it sucks, so I don’t blame you for wanting to leave. As a plus, I expect tourist numbers are down in the mountains as people think the place is in danger.
Remember it is a 150km long park from Penrith to Lithgow, and the fires are impacting a very small part of the area where people go.
That wind direction looks likely to change as soon as later today.
Could do.
Again, the smoke pools in the Sydney basin. It isn't smoky up here, and hasn't been except for a brief period a week or so ago.
Thanks for the post. We're actually meant to go to the Blue Mountains shortly and when we asked the hotel this question (after seeing all the news articles about fires in blue mountains causing the smoke) they said the sky is clear and there's no smoke.
Feel free to send me a direct message and I will give you a real time air quality/fire safety report! ;-)
Seems like the Blue Mountains is a feasible solution at least in the short term.
Better to stay indoors and air out the house when the air clears - plan ahead by checking the air quality forecast. The air in the North Shore was surprisingly clear yesterday and today in the morning, but is hazy now, and confirmed by the air quality index. It's also been clear in the evenings when we air the house. We also aired the house this morning when things were crystal clear.
As you drive out of Sydney, you're breathing in all of the smoke for a couple of hours.
Melbourne no problems.
It is official, Melbourne > Sydney.
Call me in March when you're freezing your genitals off.
Its not that cold! We’re not Tassie you know!
Adelaide > melbourne > sydney. We don't have the smoke or put up with a ultra-left greenie government.
I wonder how many additional deaths this will cause. It certainly will kill some additional people compared to if the events had not occurred.
These types of events are going to become more numerous and more frequent due to climate change.
Was the arsonists created by climate change as well?
Yes it's Gods will to punish us mortals.
Most of the large fires are the result of lightning which could well have increased frequency due to more energy in the weather from climate change.
I like your theory, so there were no lightning 200 years ago?
@boomramada: If climate change is providing more energy to the weather systems, as I think seems likely, it doesn't seem controversial to say that there are more frequent and higher energy storms, hence more lightning.
Whether the lightning that started the Gospers Mountain fire is because of climate change can't be known, but if there are 10% more lightning strikes, then in a collection of 100 fires started by lightning we can conclude 10 of them would not have occurred without the change, though we can't tell which 10.
An increase in lightning doesn't mean before the increase there was zero.
@mskeggs: But, I think you think only make a great story. I like to see any evidence to cover the story, or let's blame everything on climate change. ie. Something like lightning strike intensity over period of time.
However, arson attack increase over time. There are lots of good evidence of that online.
This is old but still a good article
https://www.smh.com.au/national/arson-mischief-and-recklessn…
and we always had bushfires/droughts in Australia, nothing new.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bushfires_in_Australia
https://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/[email protected]/lookup/1301.0Featur…
Having said that, I'm not saying there is no climate change, but these days people act like world going to end in few days due to climate change.
Seems like the full effects of prolonged exposure to bushfire smoke is relatively unknown/un-researched.
Hopefully, its not as hazardous as some have reported.
Maybe, but I wouldn’t say that this event was a result of climate change. We used to backburn, have fire trails, to control the fires. We also hear that 1994 was the same. There is profit to be made by those promoting climate change. The science is not evidence and those that say climate change are promoted and those that say no climate change are ridiculed. It’s pretty clear why scientists say that there is
I don’t know what you are trying to say. Yes there may be more hazard reduction than previous years but I know a property in the fire path had the best fire rating 15 years ago and today has the worst rating. The land was cleared then and is overgrown now. Will it burn then or now? Your article is useless
one way ticket to mars
I live on the Central Coast and it's smokey up here. I would say go West or East as far as you can if you really want to get out of it, there's no guarantee when it will clear up though as I imagine these fires will be burning for a long time.
its only like smoking 30-40 fags a day anyway ;) mid north coast is clear now OP.
Don't say that: the Gov't will start taxing you for it.
Keep the smoke going, I'm using up my sick days with a genuine excuse. Cough, cough.
It was fun in the beginning but now I miss doing exercise outdoors. And even the shopping centres in my area have a terrible smell.
Might fly to Beijing for a slight improvement.
Have you looked at the weather satellite maps on TV?
Have you noticed that the winds are westerly and that the bush fires are also in the west.
Do you think then that in order to get away from the smoke, you would have to be on the other side?
Do you think that? Do you think you have to be on the other side where the air is clear?
Then go with this assumption and travel over to Bathurst or Dubbo.
Do you think that may be the direction?
Do you think that you're just venting your own internal anger and insecurities through sarcasm on a nameless forum?
Do you think that it may be that?
Canberra has had one day of smoke about a week ago (from a fire to the south east). All clear since then.
Although it's back again with a vengeance I've heard…
The latest maps show Sydney surrounded by fires on all three (terrestrial) sides. Only direction without fire is East, into the water.
Having said that, generally any decent air-con system will filter out most of the smoke particulates so if you can find some place indoors to stay that's air-conned and is or can be sealed from the outside, you should be fine.
Cheapest might be a Meriton serviced apartment high up somewhere in the city with no openable windows.