New Zealanders woke to ominous scenes early on New Year's Day, with orange haze covering the sky and the sun stained blood red. 

Bushfires in Australia are spewing a massive current of smoke across the Tasman towards New Zealand, and it's likely to continue for a while. 

Imagery from the Japanese weather satellite Himawari-8 shows the blanket of smoke is wide enough to cover the entire South Island.

"It's been happening for quite some time since the Aussie bushfires have been going. At the moment it's definitely more noticeable, especially over the South Island," he said.

The haze is particularly obvious in Otago where a light yellow cloud cover gives the area a sepia-toned feel. 

In Lyttleton, Christchurch, Dudley Jackson snapped an image of the rising sun with a deep orange hue.

From their boat at Waiheke Island early in the morning, Glyn Kerr captured a remarkable red sky and a dramatic reflection off the water.

MetService meteorologist Aidan Pyselman said they had been tracking the smoke for several weeks since the fires began. 

"It's off and on, when we get a particular setup with the way the upper winds are it tends to come across. We haven't had it consistently but at the moment we've got a front moving on to the South Island."

The smoke wouldn't have any impact on weather or temperatures in New Zealand, Pseylman said. 

https://twitter.com/opetheater/status/1212119092682838016

"It's only a really thin haze, temperatures are pretty warm but it's not really anything to do with that."

A SnapitHD webcam captured the hazy sunrise over Wanaka this morning which many others across the country also experienced. This is due to smoke from the Australian bush fires being carried across the Tasman by an unbroken northwest flow. ^AC pic.twitter.com/Bo5T8LgOuJ

— MetService NZ (@MetService) December 31, 2019

Winds will continue to push smoke towards New Zealand for the next few days, but wind directions should change around he said. 

"It will probably peter out. At the moment its coming across on norwesterly flow, but later in the week the winds will be more souwesterly, so we probably won't see as much."

Smoke billows across the Tasman Sea as fires rage in southeastern Australia. pic.twitter.com/c0qNto5x6B

— Ben Domensino (@Ben_Domensino) December 31, 2019

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