BUSH FIRE SMOKE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23246, 16 January 1939, Page 8

BUSH FIRE SMOKE

THE TASMAN CROSSED • METEOROLOGIST'S VIEW YELLOW GLOW IN SKY » Unusual effects of light, apparently due to a combination of low clouds with smoke -which is believed to be due to the bush fires in south-eastern Australia, were observed in Auckland yesterday morning. For some time after 9 o'clock* the day was very gloomy, and occupants of houses found it necessary to raise their blinds or sit near windows in order to obtain enough light for reading and similar tasks. About 10 a.m. the sky lightened somewhat <md was suffused by a peculiar yellow glow like that which is sometimes observed on overcast days near sunset. Grass and other foliage took on a most vivid green, quite altering the landscape in some localities for the time being.

The opinion that the smoke pervading the atmosphere over Auckland and other parts of the North Island had very probably coine from Australia was expressed by Dr. K. G. Simmers, of tho Meteorological Office, Wellington, in the course of a telephone conversation yesterday. Such occurrences had been met with quite often in the past, not only when there were bush fires, but also during severe dust storms in the interior of Australia.

Hazy or misty weather was reported by nearly all the principal meteorological stations in the North Island yesterday, suggesting that the influence of thp smoke was general.