fires in NSW

Hi guy's out there.......

just seen the new's..........ur in our/my thought's......

take care......Clogs

+1 from me

**LINK**

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/heatwave-catastrophic-fire-danger-looms-in-nsw/news-story/b6b2205ee3a338a14e53c2983a48e00f

MichaelG.

... just returned from 'snowy & bleak' Buxton.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 12/02/2017 15:18:49

Michael, I purchased a milling machine from Tony Griffiths in Tideswell, many years ago, (lathes.co.uk man) and on the way to pick it up, going through Ashbourne thinking what a lovely dry day it was, got up the top heading for Buxton, and it turned into a scene like Antartica !.

Shame about the forest fires.

Roger

Useful **LINK**

http://www.buxtonweather.co.uk/

MichaelG.

Are you a subscriber? That link just whacked me with multiple demands for cash!

Looks like it's been bad but getting better now:

four-emergency-warnings-issued-as-bushfires-bear-down-on-nsw

Neil

.

Certainly not !!

I just found the link and viewed it on the iPad

MichaelG.

.

 ... But it doesn't work any more.

They've re-directed the link ... Look at the URL I posted & compare with where you're taken.

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 12/02/2017 19:17:10

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 12/02/2017 19:26:39

I watched a programme the other day in which the guy was, I think, trying to convince the outback farmers that global warming was happening, it sounded like they don't really believe it is, with one farmer letting his flock of sheep out onto the last grass, 14000 acres, he had on his huge farm!

The thought then occurred to me that before Europeans settled there and carved the country up into these massive farms with massive sheep flocks the Aborigines had lived there for a long long time in harmony with their surroundings and hadn't denuded the scant grass lands, so while the warming of our climate is happening it does look like that some of us 'more intelligent' humans are responsible for some of the damage done to the planet.

It reminds me of the houses built outside Glasgow on one of the Clyde's flood plains, when flooded up to the window sill the planners commented " well it hadn't flooded here for the last eighty years.

Perhaps Australia has had huge fires in the past, before the white man arrived though.

Take care guys.

Ah!

You are spot on Cyril!! Especially west of the mountains(from the east coast) the sheep and wheat farming etc has been a major cause of problems but few can see that. There's a big difference between the few kangaroos and other native animals to the multitude of cattle sheep added to the wild pigs, rabbits and camels which were never meant to be here. Add to that the damming of rivers north which effectively stopped the flow of the Murray/Darling river system causing problems which will never recover.

The fires, extremely disastrous west of the mountains from Sydney as well as on the north coast of NSW with unknown property and livestock loss. Three people arrested for starting some fires on North Coast. Lightning strikes responsible forfires west of mountains I believe. Cooler weather (30C) at present due to southerly change but still hot west of mountains. Was up to 47C on weekend and forecast has it returning to low 40sC next week. CAN YOU SEND US SOME SNOW??!!

Thank heavens for an airconditioned workshop!

Like the American Indians the Australian aboriginals used fire to control their environment with great success. Only when the White Man arrived, who valued land above the environment and thought they knew about fire, did things go wrong.

Many species of trees in Australia and North America need fire to reproduce.

JA [Not yet a tree hugger but may be in four years time]

Edited By JA on 12/02/2017 23:09:56

We have not had the heat that Australia is having, but one fire locally has closed the Trans Alpine railway line between Canterbury and the West Coast, this is one of the busiest railway lines in the country, at least 5 bridges have been damaged, in an area with no road access, a temporary road is being built to get heavy machinery in. Its hoped to get the line open in about 6 weeks. The coal trade relies on this line although the amount is only a quarter of hat it was a couple of years ago at 3000 tonnes a day.

Ian S C

Global Warming deniers remind me rather of the tobacco smokers of my youth. They were absolutely convinced in the face of statistical evidence and medical advice that their habit wasn't harmful. There was always some other explanation. Commercial fishing was the same: the depletion of fish stocks was nothing to do with them and no way did the fishing industry need to be regulated.

There was an interesting Radio 4 programme recently about wild-fires, which are on the increase around the world.

The programme centred on the problem in Canada, featuring Fort McMurray.

Forest fires are a natural occurrence in Canada, but global warming is the best explanation for the average temperature in Canada rising a couple of degrees. The rise also explains Canada's reducing rainfall. In Canada, the wildfire season now starts two months early, and it lasts two months longer. As the forest is also dryer than it used to be, wildfires in Canada are bigger and more frequent than before.

This growth isn't peculiar to Canada: it's a global phenomenon, for example it's happening in the US as well and in a long list of other countries.

No-one says that Global Warming is responsible for wild-fires. Rather it is the most likely reason that big fires break out more often. Global warming isn't a matter of opinion, it's happening. The root causes are more difficult to prove, but the most likely cause is human activity. Unfortunately, that collides head on with short-term self interest. I fear for my grandchildren.

Dave

It appeared to be as dry as a bone a few hundred km inland in NSW some dozen years ago when we visited a friends 'smallholding' of a few thousand acres. With a stocking density a few orders of magnitude less than the UK and nothing looking remotely like grass in sight we wondered how the tiny handful of cattle and horses they kept even survived. Still they must have had some rain now and again as the huge tanks they had for roof runoff did contain some water. It's a land of huge contrasts, only a week or two earlier we were hit by a huge thunderstom with horizon to horizon lightning a few miles inland of SE Queensland.