Sydney turns red: dust storm blankets city

Sydney turns red: dust storm blankets city

www.smh.com.au

Sydneysiders have woken to a red haze unlike anything seen before by residents or weather experts, as the sun struggles to pierce a thick blanket of dust cloaking the city this morning.

Callers have flooded talkback radio and scores of emails have been received by smh.com.au by Sydney residents expressing their amazement at this morning's conditions.

"I've not seen anything like this before."

"This is such an infrequent event ... it's hard to say when the dust will stop."

(visit the link for the full news article)


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Well I can say I've never seen anything like this before either anywhere, let alone in Sydney.

I just woke up a few minutes ago and the house is lit up with the weirdest red light. It's as if all the windows are made of reddish-orange glass, like I'm living in a red wine looking out.

I went outside and the puddles from the recent rain are filled with the dust, and the sky is completely orange. After my eyes adjusted to the orange, I looked back at the house and the florescent lights inside lit the back windows up in greenish blue, a stark contrast to the rust above me.

I took a few pics, but they're pretty boring given it was just my back yard - the pics in the news stories linked within this post are alot better. Anyway it's about 7:20am now, hopefully it will subside a little for my trip into work.

For a city-dweller and being a kid originally from Kentucky, it's one of the weirdest weather phenomena I've ever personally seen.

www.smh.com.au
(visit the link for the full news article)

Are there crazy cultists running around saying its Armageddon? That would make my day.

Also, do you sneeze red after walking through this?

Well.... that is weird. I hope it clears up soon, I can imagine driving may be an issue.

My Mother-in-law just called from way out west and told us to be careful today and leave early if we're going anywhere. She also said there was about 1cm of dust covering everything at the back of their house. I haven't even seen the car yet, I just had it washed, jeez.

Crazy!

Someone here yesterday was saying there was a dust storm where they lived- they posted in the Melbourne earthquake thread

thanks for posting OP I have yahoo as my home page but didnt notice this when I logged on earlier.

Latest Visible Satellite image can be found here, showing well the system creating the Sandstorms over Eastern Australia.

www.bom.gov.au...

Originally posted by DINSTAAR

Also, do you sneeze red after walking through this?

Yes, I had to blow my nose quite thoroughly to stop the sensation of needing to sneeze - and the air's 'crunchy.' I only stayed out for about 1 minute, but I got enough in my mouth to know it was there.

I live in Sydney West when i woke up this morning i thought there was a fire outside my bedroom window, there was an orange glow coming through the blinds.
I just listen to people talking about it no the Radio they say the dust storm spans from Wollongong to Moree as far west as Dubbo which is a massive area and won’t settle till this afternoon. I took a few pics ill upload them soon.

lol, i honestly woke up and looked out the window and thought that a nuke had gone off in sydney or something, aha scary stuff.

You should have seen it just when the sun was coming up about an hour and a half ago. The thickest soup-like redness I have ever seen, I've been sitting here watching it get lighter and less thick over the last hour or so.

Never seen anything like it! The meteorologists and whatnot are saying the same! Apparently a crapload of dust got picked up from the western parts of the state and got dumped on us, and we are going to cop the gale force winds sometime later today.

I can taste dust and the air smells like a vaccuum cleaner bag.

[edit on 22/9/2009 by Kryties]

cool.

That really is stuff you see in movies though.

Man, that's intense. Wonder what would have gone through my mind if it had happened here in the US. Dust storms frequent there?

Ah... more phenomenal photos!

www.smh.com.au...

[edit on 22-9-2009 by Arrowmancer]

Not surprisingly ALL international flights inbound to SYD have been diverted to Melbourne or Brisbane. I'd imagine the workers on the ground at SYD are rapidly trying to cover up Aircraft parts such as Engines, Pitot Tubes to stop the dust from settling in the components.

I'm surprised the radio signal still works also as usually during Dust Storms the electromagnetification affects radio waves and anything with electrical circuits as the static builds in the atmosphere.

Here are a couple of pics i took to on the way to work this morning.

The Sky
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/559aaa5a28b7.jpg[/atsimg]


Driving to work.
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/51f80d42d411.jpg[/atsimg]


My Car (which was parked in an enclosed carport)
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/4f7ab6db2541.jpg[/atsimg]


My photos have been cut in the forum, i guess if you go to my profile you can see the full image.


[edit on 22/9/2009 by wycky]

Originally posted by Arrowmancer
Man, that's intense. Wonder what would have gone through my mind if it had happened here in the US. Dust storms frequent there?

Ah... more phenomenal photos!

www.smh.com.au...

[edit on 22-9-2009 by Arrowmancer]

Not in Sydney, we did have a minor one in 2002 but that was nothing compared to this

Originally posted by Arrowmancer
Dust storms frequent there?

Not in Sydney that's for sure. I would have to agree that when the sun was first coming up and it was especially thick and deep red I initially thought it was a severe bushfire. That's about the closest I could equate to the feeling and what it looked like.

Bushfires, for those that don't know, for those caught near them it reddens the sky to a soup like redness and blocks out the sun. This is what this was like.

It had an apocolyptic type feel to it.

I live right by Sydney Harbour (Woolloomooloo) and foghorns woke me up about 5.50 am. Got a shock when I looked out the window expecting to see fog and instead the sky was blood red. Eerie.

They stopped Marine traffic soon after and Sydney council workers have been sent home. Anyone with asthma or lung conditions have been advised to stay inside.

The cars in my street all have a thick red film over them and there's even dust settling on furniture, appliances etc. in the house despite being closed up. You can't escape the fine dust and it's very cloying...can taste it constantly. It's predicted to hang around until this afternoon and one report stated the dust cloud may actually travel around the globe, so enjoy your little bit of Oz if it floats over your way.

I have never experienced anything like this in the 50 years I have lived here. Kinda cool and awe-inspiring but freaky too.

Has anyone analyzed the dust to see if it contains anything other than dirt? Or took an comparative analysis as to where the dust might have been collected? A simple trace from that location to Sydney through the recorded weather patterns would supply a cause-and-effect scenario which could be published for us.

Or is that already done?

This is exciting! How often do we get to see something we've never seen before?

Ok I just shook my blanket and dust went everywhere like thick smoke

My fiance is on the M2 in a bus as I write this, she sent me an SMS saying visibility is about 50 metres tops and the traffic is slowed to a crawl because of it.

reply to post by Arrowmancer


Most of the western parts of New South Wales and into Eastern South Australia and the Southern parts of the Northern Territory are either desert or are suffering severe drought. Farmland under severe drought conditions turns to dry red dirt basically.

The dust could come from an area covering 3 states, I wouldn't think there would be much hope in hell of pinpointing an exact region lol. It's a hell of a lot of dust, its really hard to put into words you just have to see it!