Some extreme conditions today - winds up to 80kph.

Two bushfires in NSW but no reports of houses lost so far

Extreme conditions in parts of WA with the 'catastrophic' warning issued for some areas.

Dust storm where I am (and over most of NSW and SEQ - air described as 'hazardous') - we did get some rain this week which will hopefully be enough to stop the fires running riot here - but it's hot and the wind is blowing - and at least one of the permit fires that has been burning for weeks survived the rain coz I could still see it smoking up yesterday

What's really missing is a decent fire watch map. Seems way behind the typhoon charts and forecasts, even though it's a very similar thing really - affected by winds - reasonably predictable in terms of where it's going to go - would be a great help to people trying to make a plan