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Smoke from the massive bushfires in the Australian state of New South Wales is likely to drift more than 2,000 km across the Tasman into New Zealand in the next few days, a New Zealand government research agency warned Thursday.
Smoke from the bushfires that have been burning near Sydney for eight days was being blown towards New Zealand by a complex weather situation in the Tasman, said atmosphere scientist Tony Bromley, of the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA).
"Some will be washed out of the atmosphere by rain, but the sheer size of the smoke plumes will ensure a lot will make it to New Zealand and beyond," Bromley said in a statement.
Evidence of the smoke could be visible from Auckland in the north of the North Island from later Friday and would spread south into the South Island over the next four days.
If the fires continued to burn fiercely, the smoke was likely to affect each area for between 26 and 48 hours.
"The predicted winds across the Tasman over the next few days are forecast to be strong, and it may take the smoke as little as 15 to 18 hours at times to cross from New South Wales," he said.
The smoke could make sunsets and sunrises more intense depending on cloud cover, but even during the day the smoke plume should be clearly visible.
