Although it's a new year, Australia continues to suffer in one of the worst bushfire seasons on record.
And today Melbourne has been blanketed in a thick smoke haze akin to scenes from Blade Runner, dropping air quality levels to hazardous and making Melbourne currently one of the worst-rated cities in the world.
Widespread smoke across central and eastern #Victoria today, including the #Melbourne area. Smoke haze will begin to clear western and central parts tomorrow afternoon, but is not expected to clear properly until Wednesday night. https://t.co/BQEpwrEDgw @EPA_Victoria
Residents have reported "airpocalyptic" skies and hundreds of false fire alarms.
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Now VS a few days ago. #melbournesmoke #AirQuality
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Melbourne is facing an air quality emergency Tuesday as hazardous levels of smoke haze engulf the city 😷. As pollution levels skyrocket, the @EPA_Victoria is warning now even healthy Victorians could experience symptoms including coughing & shortness of breath #melbournesmoke
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This photo of the sky is the view from the Holmesglen Station in Malvern East at 9:07 am. Looks airpocalyptic. #melbournesmoke #melbourneweather
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The sun is red. This is scary. I have no idea how those closer to the fires are coping. #melbournesmoke
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What a morning 😲#melbournesmoke
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An almost terrifying comparison of our usual view with tonight’s view. The smoke and haze is so thick the skyline is completely gone #AustraliaBurning #melbournesmoke
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Firefighters called out to 200 false alarms overnight bc of the smoke. Heard the sirens all night. Pools closed, events cancelled. 50% increase in asthma ambulance call outs. Can usually see the MCG from here #melbournesmoke #smokehaze
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My 6 year old son walked outside this morning and thought this was the moon. It’s not, it’s our bushfire smoke obscured sun. #ecogrief #ThereIsNoPlanetB #melbournesmoke #melbourneweather
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This is melbourne today. #MelbourneSmoke #bushfireaustralia
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On my way to Uni this morning... #AirQuality #melbournesmoke #AustralianBushfire #melbourne
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View from the office today in Melbourne versus normal. Air quality is at hazardous levels. I wore a N95 mask to get work... Avoid going outside if you can. #MelbourneSmoke
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Where'd that CBD go? View from Thornbury this morning vs normal clear view. #MelbourneSmoke #AustralianBushfires
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When Pokemon go is lyfe, smoke is lyfe and life is lyfe. #melbournesmoke #PokemonGO #P2Mask
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Maribyrnong River walk has never looked so grim. @3AW693 #melbournesmoke 📸: my mama
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That building you can barely see in the background is actually only about 300m away. #melbournesmoke
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Our new normal: hazardous air quality and Melburnians wearing P2 masks. #ClimateCrisis #MelbourneSmoke
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Here's a better shot. #melbournesmoke
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And the #melbournesmoke has returned with 4 hours of Hazardous #AirQuality levels overnight. Where we can usually see the city lights, is now as if it doesn’t even exist.
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Visibility is horrible and you can taste the smoke in the air in Melbourne. A global ranking website rated us as having the second worst air quality in the world at one point overnight. @abcmelbourne @abcnews @BreakfastNews
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Look at how smoky it is in my area!! The air quality last night was HAZARDOUS. I was considering calling into work if the warning didn’t get downgraded. #melbournesmoke
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Smoke on The Water ... a blood red sun and a vanished city. View from #Williamstown3016 #melbournesmoke #apocalypse 7.00am
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Melbourne this morning #SmokeHaze #melbournesmoke
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I look like I'm going to fight some infected from The Last If Us rather than going to work. This smoke is absolutely suffocating but at least this makes it easier to breathe #melbournesmoke #sacksmoko #australiafire