A 2300-kilometre long dust cloud is heading to New Zealand after blanketing parts of eastern Australia. Gullery said the clouds were likely made up of smoke and dust from the large wildfires occurring in Australia. The dust would likely be high up in the atmosphere, but he said it was "quite likely to reach New Zealand". SUPPLIED Beaches in Sydney and the south-east of New South Wales were hazy on Wednesday due to the dust cloud. Australia's Weatherzone meteorologist Brett Dutschke said the dust had reduced the air quality to hazardous in some areas, but by midday on Wednesday the air quality was rapidly improving as the dust was blown further north.

Source: Stuff February 13, 2019 05:09 UTC