Indiatimes : Jan 08, 2020, 10:45 AM
Australia has been devastatingly burning since September 2019 and the wildfires have claimed the lives of over half a billion animals. Constant efforts are being made by the country to get over this nightmare but extreme damage has already taken place. During this mayhem, the rain Gods decided to bless the country and brought in some relief to the fire-ravaged areas in New South Wales and Victoria, with some areas also being on the receiving end of 'torrential' rains.
However, according to officials, this rain doesn't mean it's an end to the wildfires and 'mega blazes' are expected to break out later this week along with hot and dry winds. This could lead to a massive fire chaos in the already damaged areas and the only silver lining here is that the rain has provided the residents with some buffer time to regroup before the flames take over again. According to BBC, even though there was a short period of rest from the fires, the haze pollution is significantly high with Victoria's Bureau of Meteorology warning residents that the visibility is lower than 1 km. The images released by NASA are also proof of the fact that winds not stay put and are on their way to Australia's neighbouring country, New Zealand. The blue skies of NZ have now turned into a gloomy orange with soot particles infiltrating the atmosphere.Australian fire crews celebrate as rain brings relief in battle against raging blazes pic.twitter.com/bBfQRpoERp
— Dr. Kash Sirinanda (@kashthefuturist) January 6, 2020
NASA's satellites captured images of the areas which are terribly affected by fire and smoke, and they showed obscene amounts of particles in the smoke that are making their way into the atmosphere. These particles are made up of soot, dust and other toxic chemicals which can severely damage a living being's health.These fires are causing long term damage to the environment.Our @NASAEarth Aqua satellite took this natural-color image of southeastern Australia on Jan. 4 showing smoke from wildfires. Some white patches above the smoke are likely to be pyrocumulonimbus clouds created by convection and heat rising from a fire: https://t.co/vRl5k66wX2 pic.twitter.com/9YaoXRoxX0
— NASA (@NASA) January 6, 2020