Vic Emergency has ordered the mass evacuation of a vast area, with catastrophic conditions also forecast for South Australia. Follow latest news and live updates
“We’re seeing a different kind of thunderstorm,” says Andrew Tupper from the Bureau of Meteorology. “These are more commonly known as pyro-cumulonimbus – which basically means a fire-generated thunderstorm.
“The way that they work is basically the fires give them an extra push in conditions that would normally be suitable, or marginally suitable, for thunderstorms. As they give them that push, the thunderstorms can develop more rapidly than they normally would.
The plume of smoke behind Bairnsdale looks like it has tripled in size and grown much closer to the coast in the past half an hour. It’s so big I can’t get a photo of it. @naamanzhou @heldavidson
Conditions are so dangerous, the fires are generating lightning, the CFA says.
“The fire that started yesterday afternoon near Mallacoota is an excellent example about the fire behaviour that we’ve seen.
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