Australia – Winter weather gloom
Winter weather gloom
30 July 2007
published by www.news.com.au
SMOG is a rare thing for our fair city.
But we looked every bit like the big smoke yesterday, as light southwest to southeast breezes held smoke over the city from a series of grass fires and burn-offs.
Controlled backburning took place in Brisbane’s north, west and south at the weekend, including Samford, the Gold Coast hinterland, Beaudesert, and Millmerran on the west Darling Downs.
Forecaster Vikash Prasad said the smoke would hopefully clear this morning.
Light conditions were ideal for hazard reduction burns but the downside was that smoke tended to hang around.
“We’ll just have to be patient,” Mr Prasad said.
A Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital spokesman said despite the heavy smoke haze around the city, emergency physicians had reported no increase in asthma cases.
The controlled burn-offs came amid warnings that the upcoming bushfire season could be the worst in a decade.
Dry and warm weather is forecast for Brisbane this week with temperatures expected to range from 8C to 26C. Minimum temperatures at the weekend were about 6C above average in the southwest.
