‘Huge plumes of smoke’ heading for NZ
New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (Niwa) said the bushfires were sending “huge plumes of smoke” across the Tasman Sea.
It said Kiwis shouldn’t be surprised to see hazy skies and unusually colourful sunsets over the next week.
Niwa meteorologist Ben Noll told the Herald last month it was possible that hot northwesterly flows predicted to arrive regularly from Australia over summer would make a drift of smoke possible.
“To see it [smoke] in our skies, what you need is a fast start to the fire season across the Tasman, as well as a circulation pattern that favours the west-to-east transport of air from Australia to New Zealand.”
As to whether our skies might turn the same ghastly orange they did in the opening days of 2020 – when large amounts of material were carried over the Tasman by an upper-level jet of westerly winds – other elements would need to align, he said.
“Whether that’s a southerly change moving up the South Island that drags some dust right out ahead and brings it down to a lower level of the atmosphere, or something else – these are things that just aren’t foreseeable at this point.”
Niwa air quality scientist Ian Longley – who recalled the eerie 2020 haze as “looking a bit like Mars” as he photographed it from the beach at Mangawhai Heads – thought it more likely than not that New Zealand would again see bushfire smoke this summer.
Additional reporting AAP
Raphael Franks is an Auckland-based reporter who covers breaking news. He joined the Herald as a Te Rito cadet in 2022.
