Smoke haze blankets region
TWEED residents woke to a thin smoke haze on Thursday morning but the usual suspects were not to blame.
Fire stations in the shire reported no fires and cane farmers in the area stated no major burn offs, capable of causing the haze, were in progress.
A weather bureau spokesperson said the region had experienced strong north to north-easterly winds over the last few days and, although these circumstances indicated the smoke could have originated from the north, there was a possibility of smoke caused by fires in Grafton contributed to the problem.
Winds switching direction could have forced some of the smoke from more than a dozen fires burning in the Grafton area towards northern NSW.
A Queensland Department of Community Safety spokeswoman said the most likely cause of the smoke haze was a number of fires reported in the Tamborine, Norwell and Currumbin.
The smoke originating from Currumbin was caused by a permitted burn off by a local landowner while the Tamborine smoke came from a hazard reduction burn off and the Norwell smoke originated from cane burns.
A weather bureau spokeswoman said strong northerly winds would continue until tomorrow when the wind direction would change to a southerly and speeds would decrease.
A community safety spokeswoman added the most likely scenario was that this morning's smoke haze was caused by a combination of fires burning both south and north of the Tweed and the emergence of strong winds in the area.
