Does the weather change my emergency bushfire plan? Only you can answer that, but we can tell you, it should play a part in your decision making. So what questions can you ask yourself?
What is the Australian Fire Danger Rating System's (AFDRS) for today?
What is the AFDRS for today? If you are unsure what this means, check out our blog What rating systems do we use in Australia to determine fire danger? While this rating is NOT telling you the likelihood of a fire starting, it is giving you information on the consequences of a fire if it were to start. This includes how large a fire might get and how scarce resources like fire trucks may become.
What is todays predicated weather?
Is it going to be a hot 40C with a calm breeze or is it a hot 40C with raging gale force winds and an expected storm with dry lightning? These two scenarios are vastly different in regards to how likely a fire is to start, how the fire will behave and what could be required for defending efforts.
Is the weather predicted to change throughout the day?
While the weather may not start off too bad, is it going to change throughout the day? This could be for the better or for the worse. This could include wind direction changes, becoming hotter, becoming more humid, a cool change which could bring rain or dry lightning. Each of these conditions could affect the behaviour of a fire that has started or could potentially start a fire.
Is todays weather turning out as predicted?
Weather monitoring isn't just a once off assessment, you should be watching and monitoring it throughout the day. Watch for subtle changes that could indicate a massive weather shift IE breeze picking up, breeze swirling. Are these changes what you are expecting?
Setting up good habits
Going through this simple check list should be done on a daily basis or, on days of high fire danger, multiple times a day. It’s a good idea to do this even on days that don’t seem to pose a fire danger risk so it becomes automatic and you are comfortable with your process.
Where can I get good information about todays weather?
The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) is still the most reliable and recognised source of information. They have a website as well as an easy to navigate app for your phone. This can be found in your phone's app store to download.
Other sources of weather information
- ABC radio – this is good as it doesn’t rely on internet or phone reception
- Friends and family. What is happening in their area's? Does this correlate to what you might expect later in the day?
- Other community members near by. Make contact with them to see what the weather is doing. Social media such as community facebook groups are great for this.
