How sad it was to see the scale of the devastating Australian bush fires first hand today in Whangarei, Northland, New Zealand.   Even though the savagely fierce blazes are over 2.5 thousand kilometers away,  the fires created such a massive plume of dingy- coloured smoke that sunlight was obscured from the late afternoon on Sunday, the 5th of January, 2020.

The orangy plume became first apparent in Whangarei, Woodhill, shortly after 4pm, when it became strangely darker, like it does on the day of an eclipse.

There was an unearthly orange glow which deepened as the afternoon turned into evening and it felt colder than usual for this time of year.   According to weatherman, Philip Duncan, as reported in Stuff.co.nz, the plume could reduce temperatures by about 4-5 degrees Celsius. (Showing that the sun drives the climate, not carbon dioxide?)

The time of sunset is 8.42pm, but car drivers found…