Smoke from Australia bushfires drifts as far as South America

Smoke from wildfires in Australia is drifting across the Pacific to cities in South America, and may have reached the Antarctic, the UN World Meteorological Organisation has said.

Smoke from bushfires in Australia has travelled some 11,000 kilometres to South America. Last week, the highest levels of carbon monoxide in the world were measured over the “clean” South Pacific Ocean.

At the weekend, skies turned “apocalyptic” bright orange 2,000km away in Auckland, New Zealand, as bushfires continue to wreak destruction in Australia.

Satellite imagery from GOES-16 shows #AustralianBushfire reaching Chile and Argentina. https://t.co/aOdxhS21Lu

— World Meteorological Organization (@WMO) January 6, 2020

Now, skies as far away in Chile have gone grey in the thick smoke, with the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) citing reports that the sunset in Argentina’s capital, Buenos Aires, had turned red.

In Geneva, WMO spokeswoman Clare Nullis told reporters the smoke had “probably” reached the Antarctic.

Authorities said the smoke did not pose a health risk in South America.

Read more via DW/Sky News/The Guardian