Weather News

Dense film of smoke affecting Sydney

Graeme Brittain, Tuesday November 19, 2019 - 09:53 AEDT

Smoke from the ongoing Wollemi National Park bushfires drifted across the Sydney Basin overnight last night.

The smoke was trapped in a layer of cooler air that formed at the surface overnight, also known as a nocturnal temperature inversion.

According to the Environment NSW's website, many areas of Sydney are experiencing Hazardous air quality this morning, with a Poor air quality alert in place for the remainder of today. https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/aqms/aqitable.htm

As the inversion breaks down and the atmosphere becomes more mixed through the day, the air quality may improve slightly.

However, with the mercury set to soar and winds increase, we could see fires to the northwest of Sydney becoming more intense, and the associated smoke continuing to be brought over the city.

The RFS have issued a Total Fire Ban for the Greater Sydney area today, with the Fire Danger Rating set at Severe. https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/fire-information/fdr-and-tobans

A cool southerly change should bring cleaner air across the Harbour City this evening.

- Weatherzone

© Weatherzone 2019

Enter a postcode or town name for local weather, or text to search the site. » advanced search

Weather News

» all stories

Australia's tropical cyclone season coming to an end

16:40 AEST The 2023-24 Australian tropical cyclone season is almost over and while it was a quiet season based on overall numbers, some of the landfalling systems had a big impact.