Thick haze from the Australian bushfires which darkened the South Island is moving north, creating some stunning images of the sun and moon for onlookers.
Smoke blown over from the massive blazes destroying parts of New South Wales and Victoria smothered lower parts of the South Island on Wednesday, turning the sky orange. The hazy sunlight forced many to drive with their headlights on during the day.
The smoke is now heading north and is already creating a haze in areas as far north as Auckland.
NIWA posted an image of a "colourful sunrise" in Auckland, which it says was caused by smoke from the bushfires.
"Smoke from the Australian fires, ahead of the S'ly change, now over the North Island. Smoke expected to leave the South Island as today unfolds," NIWA said on Thursday morning.
MetService is also forecasting "hazy sunrises" across the North Island.
"The main band of smoke has moved north from yesterday, while another band of smoke lingers over the South Island."
The AuckLife Twitter account shared an image of a deep orange sunrise while images sent to Newshub also show the dark sunrise from the Hauraki Gulf island of Ponui. The moon also got in on the action on Wednesday night, a striking orange over Whanganui.
"The Auckland sky is a very trumpian orange this morning thanks to NSW bush fires," said one person on Twitter.
"Looks like it's Auckland's turn to lose the sun," said another.
