Those living in NSW and much of inland Australia might be wondering the same thing - and not without reason. Sydney has recorded more days with hazardous air quality in the past 26 days alone than the previous worst six months between October 2013 and March 2014, while towns such as Port Macquarie have endured worse. Health authorities have warned people to limit their time outdoors, particularly if they have respiratory issues. Credit:Ben Rushton Compared with the previous six Novembers, last month's maximum pollution levels were two to three times higher than earlier readings, with Sydney's north-west and south-west faring worst. December readings will be higher again. On a range of measures, many of the extreme conditions predicted by climate models appear to be playing out. Even if the warming planet produced by the build-up of greenhouse gases can't be blamed for all of the current brutal weather - including the poor air quality - these are likely portents of what is to come, scientists say.

For instance, the number of days of extreme fire danger and the length of the fire season have both increased across many regions in Australia in recent decades, the Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO report in their latest State of the Climate Report. Droughts are also likely to get worse - not least because cool season rainfall is on a drying trend for southern Australia, meaning less run-off into rivers and dams. Less cloud cover and warmer temperatures will exacerbate dry spells by increasing evaporation. Smoke from bushfires and dust wiped up from our desiccated landscape are bad for those like Ms Burke, who suffer respiratory ailments, epidemiologists say. Ultra-fine and fine particles - measuring up to 2.5 and 10 microns, respectively - can enter the bloodstream and lungs, potentially triggering a range of respiratory or cardiological conditions because of inflammation or coagulation of the blood.

Loading Heart attacks can follow as blood clots form in arteries, but the particles can also affect heart rhythm. Michael Abramson, deputy head of the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine at Monash University, said for many parts of Australia heightened air pollution risks "may become the new normal". "With more severe and frequent bushfires, you would expect the sorts of effects of particles on health [as seen in Sydney] to be greater," he said. Professor Abramson cautioned that the starting point for Australian cities was mostly good air quality, and deaths from asthma, for instance, were relatively rare at "a few hundred" mostly elderly people a year.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD), which include emphysema and bronchitis and were often linked to tobacco smoking, had a "much more greater burden of morbidity or mortality", he said. "Many (COPD sufferers) have very little respiratory reserve, and ongoing high levels of fine particles will cause them to have flare-ups," Professor Abramson said. He predicts that "tragically some will die from this [pollution] event". COPD is less responsive to most medication than asthma so sufferers are much more likely to end up in emergency departments. While clinicians will often have difficulty identifying the precise cause of death, from a population-wide view "the effect is very clear", he said.

Loading People living closest to the fires are the most exposed to the ultra-fine particles since the further they travel, the more they agglomerate. Larger particles, such as from dust, typically get deposited in the nose or throat, causing sneezing and irritation. Another trigger for asthma and allergic rhinitis - or hayfever - is pollen, and the news isn't good there either. "There is evidence that when plants are stressed the pollen actually becomes more allergenic," Professor Abramson said, adding that many exotic plants turn out not to be suited to the environment. Rye grass, which is also spreading south as temperatures rise, is one culprit for hayfever spikes.