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Victoria bushfire forcing evacuations, smoke spilling into NSW

Intense bushfires continue to burn over Victoria's Grampians, with emergency warnings from Friday night advising residents to leave immediately. 

After intensifying during Thursday, hot and windy conditions continued to fuel the fire throughout Friday, with firefighters struggling to manage the blaze. This was not made easier as a gusty southerly change arrived at around 4pm, increasing the size of the fire and making it more difficult to control. 

Image: Observations for Stawell, east of the Grampians, showing temperatures rising through the afternoon into the mid-thirties then dropping. At the same time, southerly wind gusts peaked.

The southerly winds have continued into Saturday morning, with the shallow layer allowing smoke from the fire to spread well past the NSW border, as far north as Wilcannia. Other fires in Central (at the 'Advice' warning level), and East Gippsland (at the 'Watch and Act' warning level) contributed little to the smoke plume. 

Image: The large smoke plume extending from Victoria into western NSW. Smoke was produced largely by the bushfire in the Grampians. Wind barbs show the direction of wind and the extent of the southerly flow guiding the smoke. A separate smoke plume from the main plume and is spreading over southern NSW, seen on the right of the image. (Himawari satellite imagery).

Image: 6-hour loop to 8pm AEDT Friday 20th December showing the northward movement of the plume (Himawari satellite imagery).

Various locations to the north of the Grampians have had smoky skies as a result, starting well south of the border from late afternoon and moving towards the border from the evening.

Image: Eerie smoke over Ballarat at the time of the southerly change on Friday (after 4pm). Source: BoM.

Image: Smoke lingering over Mildura on Saturday (about 7:30am). Source: BoM. 

Gradually cooler conditions are expected over Victoria until early in the new week, ahead of a second burst of intense heat from about Christmas Day. 

Be sure to have your bushfire plans updated for the season ahead, and to keep up to date with our forecasts on our website.