Images from space show that the smoke from the Australian wildfires has now reached South America

The horrendous wildfires that have been raging in Australia since September have now become some intense that smoke has reached South America, some 12,000 km away.

Footage released by NASA shows that billows of smoke were blown over covering most of Chile and Argentina, as well as parts of Uruguay, Brazil, Paraguay, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia.

The smoke had travelled from Australia's east coast with the size of the cloud said to have been bigger than the United States.

The images were taken by the SuomiNPP satellite on January 1 and had been travelling across the South Pacific Ocean for 10 days before being dispelled by a wind current.

Picture: NASA

It isn't just South America that has seen the catastrophic effects of the Australian fires.

Over in New Zealand, which is 2000km away from Australia, the skies in Auckland turned orange creating some truly surreal images.

It has been reported that a total of 32 people have died as a result of the bushfire, while close to a billion animals have perished due to the blazes and more than six million hectares of land has been decimated.

HT Daily Mail

More: Six ways you can help the victims of the Australian wildfires​