Pyrocumulus over the Styx

[DaveGwy]

Scrambled out on the block stream at Lake Fenton in Mt Field NP, and turned to my right and saw this...

Pyrocumulus over Styx (?)

Which I have to say I was pretty stunned to see. I think it's called a pyrocumulus cloud. The updraft from the burn-off/fire below is strong enough to lift the packet of air, and it condenses and forms cumulus clouds. I've never seen one before, and after I got over my initial suspicion of it being the start of world war 3, it was quite stunning.
And it produced this sunset...

Ash coloured sunset

[north-north-west]

They're fairly common in Tassie. Unfortunately.

[MJD]

Good shot of it. I saw it on the drive back from Mueller. Quite stunning. Amazing how it doesn't actually look like smoke until much later when it spreads out or the sun starts setting.

[ILUVSWTAS]

Yep, this time of year they happen almost every day.

[north-north-west]

You'd get a lot of them down your way, too.

Good old FT. Can always count on them to give us beautiful sunsets and asthma.

[ILUVSWTAS]

Yep, One was scary close to our house last year!!!

[north-north-west]

You'd never get me living so close to a working forest. I still have bad memories from '67, can't sleep with a strong smoke smell around, especially in the bush.

[ILUVSWTAS]

You'd never get me living so close to a working forest. I still have bad memories from '67, can't sleep with a strong smoke smell around, especially in the bush.

Wanna buy me a new house then?

[north-north-west]

No, I'd like to buy myself a place with twenty acres or more, somewhere FT doesn't touch with their chainsaws and trucks and fires.
Is there such a place, outside of Macquarie Island?

[ILUVSWTAS]

Not that I know of, Melaleuca maybe??

[stepbystep]

See viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3840&hilit=SW+Burning+season

stock standard for this amazing time of year.

[DaveGwy]

Wow, big reaction!
I've never seen one... and I had no idea they were so common down here.

SWTAS - That picture you got of the one near your house is amazing. That must have been pretty freaky though.

[ILUVSWTAS]

Yes Dave Autumn is burning season in Tassie.

Forestry Tas just go nuts and burn everything they cant "use" at the end of the season. It's unsightly and unhealthy. But sadly very common

[Liamy77]

isn't there some clause that old growth forest doesn't get protected from logging if burnt? - what insentive do FT have to control their burns' spread i wonder....

[DaveGwy]

A related question to the knowledgeable Tassie natives....
(And I understand that it is a touchy subject..)

But what's the deal with old growth forest logging? Is it still practiced? Is the wood primarily used for pulp?
And, when I see trucks driving through town with a huge load of logs on the back... is there someway to tell if it is old growth or plantation? (E.g. I would have guessed old growth logs would be much larger & irregular?)

[Son of a Beach]

Yes, old growth forests are still clear-felled in Tasmania. There is currently some progress in working on a plan to phase this out, but there's not yet any guarantee it's going to be any time soon.

Trees in plantation and re-growth forests are generally not allowed to grow to anywhere near the size of the huge old growth trees (it's just not economical). They still get pretty big, and some regrowth forests (as distinct from plantation forests) look very nice and quite natural, but they still lack the huge trees of an old growth forest.

PS. I just wanted to add that I'm not against well-practiced forestry, and I'm not going to say one way or the other what my opinion of forestry practices in Tasmania are. I was merely answering a direct question with a direct answer (to the best of my knowledge). I know that there are some Tasmanian forestry workers who are also regular users of these forums, and I know that forestry does some good stuff in Tasmania, as well as doing things that upset people in Tasmania.

[whynotwalk]

Here's the start of a regeneration burn in the Florentine valley last month. What surprised us was that we could drive straight through the fire, on a public road, and no-one from FT was anywhere near. Admittedly this is small, but they can get up a fierce fire pretty quickly in the right conditions,

cheers

Peter