Here's an update from the NASA satellite. The smoke has cleared enough to show the huge area of devastation. This photo (208KB) is cropped from a high-resolution image (1.6MB).



High temperatures will persist until tomorrow afternoon, when a change is expected to arrive in Melbourne. In the meantime, there's a total fire ban for the state until midnight tomorrow. And then more of the same next week ...

I've used this line before but I'll keep on trotting it out until winter comes.

Phew! What a scorcher!