Weather News

A hazy day for Sydney's west

Scott Morris, Sunday June 9, 2019 - 12:32 AEST

Fog mixed with smoke from hazard reduction burning has caused the air quality in Sydney this morning to be rated poor in some parts.

Yesterday morning, light winds moved fog east into the city and eastern suburbs where it remained for an unusually long period of time. Today we had another morning of fog, however, it was less intense and mainly occurred in western parts.

Along with the fog today, there was smoke out west caused by hazard reductions carried out by the NSW Rural Fire Service. These hazard reductions are carefully organised so that the impact on the community is minimised and ultimately aim to reduce the amount of fuel available for uncontrolled fires.

The smoke combined with the fog to create the perfect conditions for a hazy morning. Visibility, which dropped below 500m in Richmond, and particles in the air from the burning were the culprits for the high Air Quality Index (AQI) values. In this rating, higher AQI values correspond to a lower air quality.

Richmond's AQI was 147 while others such as Liverpool had an AQI of 124. Sydney's eastern suburbs were not impacted as heavily, Randwick had an AQI of 80 while Macquarie park had just 34.

Some of the hazard reductions are scheduled to continue into tomorrow along with more fog forecast in western parts of Sydney.

To keep up-to-date with the latest air quality forecasts, head to https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/aqms/aqi.htm

- Weatherzone

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