@matigo Because it is. I used to work with asbestos disposal, I couldn't use the plain paper-like dust masks as they wouldn't seal properly over my wonky-shaped nose & my glasses would steam up, so the boss issued me with that device instead.
// @whoisashygirl
@streakmachine I have a friend with the wrong skin type for this climate, pale, with freckles & red hair, very prone to sunburn & skin cancer.
He wears long sleeved shirts & long trousers, broad-brimmed hat & slathers on so much SPF-50+ sunscreen that he needs to take vitamin D supplements to make up for covering so much skin.
// @matigo
@matigo Still available. Because numpties won't do their research & just wear totally useless surgical masks or plain P1-rated dust masks. I have, in my garden shed, a proper dual canister respirator like this one:
// @whoisashygirl
@matigo There was a distinct lack of fresh air here on Monday: I made a special trip to buy a box of P2-rated respirator masks for the guys in the Men's Shed group. P2 rating can handle particles of 3 microns, which covers bushfire smoke.
There was a combination of heavy drizzle & smoke blown north across Bass Strait from bushfires in Tasmania.
// @whoisashygirl
The first large catamaran used for naval service was a wave-piercing design made by Incat in Tasmania & used by the Royal Australian Navy, commissioned as HMAS Jervis Bay.
During the two years of the ship's charter by the RAN, Jervis Bay made 107 trips between Darwin and Timor Leste, shipping 20,000 passengers, 430 vehicles and 5,600 tonnes of freight, becoming known as the "Dili Express". Running the catamaran was found to be more efficient than using air transport to move materiel to and from Timor Leste, with the higher sailing speed meaning she could turn around a payload faster than multiple C-130 Hercules flights for an equivalent load.
She was used between 1999 & 2001 as a naval transport vessel.
Such a vessel would have been ideal to transport evacuees from Mallacoota in Victoria’s east to Hastings on the Mornington Peninsula, a round trip of some 650 nautical miles. Jervis Bay’s average speed is 2.5 times the maximum speeds of MV Sycamore & HMAS Choules, which were used for the first stage of the sealift, transporting around 1,100 people. There are still 4,400 remaining who are scheduled to be evacuated by sea.
@variablepulserate The radar itself detects particles, it cannot determine the difference between smoke & water vapour. Serious fires will form their own localised weather, often with columns of smoke, etc 15 km high. This is when things get nasty, dry lightning is created, adding to the fire danger.
Filthy weather today, thunderstorms abound and rain approaches. Allegedly. The radar might be tracking smoke from a bushfire burning out of control in the northeastern suburbs. Reports of at least one home lost to that fire. Temperature is now around 30°C and falling, was 43° earlier. Gusty winds complicate matters.