The forecast this weekend was for worse bushfire conditions than those that led to the Ash Wednesday bushfires of 1983. Whilst places like Britain shivered under heavier-than-usual snowfalls, many people here were preparing for mid-40oC (115+oF) temperatures and strong winds. Yes, we're poles apart in more ways than one.
While, touch wood, we've escaped unscathed so far in this tiny area of Victoria, other areas haven't been so lucky, as the ABC has been reporting with its Bushfire Emergency coverage.
Friday evening we went to bed with all the windows thrown open against the heat of the night, but by 1:00am were woken by the clattering of blinds. The wind was wild and seemed to be coming from every direction at once, so that the blinds were rattling on every side of the house. At 5:00 am we were woken by peels of thunder as an electrical storm rolled through, followed by the first rainfall we've had in a couple of months. Although it was dry at 7:00 am, we woke to a cooler day and thought the change had come through sooner than expected. However, the temperature hit 37 at one point, but only lasted a couple of hours before dropping again, so we still got off light...
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