Satellite images capture massive smoke plume over Grampians fire
A large fire burning out of control in Victoria’s Grampians National Park has created a smoke plume so large that it can be seen clearly from space.
Persistent southeasterly winds flowing over Victoria on Wednesday have been fanning a fire in the Grampians National Park. These sustained winds have forced the fire to spread towards the northwest, while also carrying smoke close to 100 km ahead of the fire front.
The map below shows the modelled winds over western Vic on Wednesday afternoon, with the location of the fire indicated with the red icon near the middle of the image.
Image: Forecast wind gust (speed and direction) and active fire location on Wednesday afternoon.
The smoke plume created by this fire was growing rapidly on Wednesday afternoon, going from a few kilometres long at midday to about 80 km by 5pm and still growing.
Image: Visible satellite images showing smoke billowing away from a fire in the Grampians National Park on Wednesday afternoon.
As of 6m AEDT, an emergency warning was in place for the fire and private properties in the Mirrantwa area were being impacted by the fire.
Visit https://www.emergency.vic.gov.au/ for the latest information and warnings on this fire.