I decided to extend the output from my fire risk script out to next Monday due to very gusty W to SW winds persisting through til the start of the working week as the low deepens while it moves across the Tasman.

The script takes into account winds, relative humidity, soil moisture (as a proxy for how cured vegetation is), and very recent rainfall... the outputs are then calibrated to past official fire danger ratings - but it doesn't take into account arid areas where vegetation is sparse, nor how much fuel there is.

Hope all existing and new fires are quickly contained today - we might get off lucky then.