Sydney turns red: dust storm blankets city

14 fun photos in this link

news.ninemsn.com.au...

Its nice and wet down my way

Sorry not to contribute something useful here.

First I'll say it's shocking, and amazing, and unusual indeed. The pictures are very cool, maybe it's just because I enjoy seeing what life is like in other countries.

But the real and only reason I skimmed through this thread was to look for OZ Weatherman's post.

Which isn't here yet, I guess. But he said yesterday the storms were unlike anything he'd ever seen, and now this? Not sure how close he live to Sydney, but if close, I'd like his thoughts on this.

I've never seen anything like this, I can only imagine waking up and having the sky look like you're on another planet. Very eerie. And the storms and earthquakes, it's pretty interesting down there. I hope it clears off completely soon, breathing that dust in can't be good.

Originally posted by Orion65
I've never seen anything like this, I can only imagine waking up and having the sky look like you're on another planet. Very eerie. And the storms and earthquakes, it's pretty interesting down there. I hope it clears off completely soon, breathing that dust in can't be good.

This is what I was thinking.
Can't be good for a species already riddled with a
steadily increasing amount of respiratory issues -
I hope they know to wear masks.

[edit on 22-9-2009 by spinkyboo]

reply to post by BaronVonGodzilla


Ozweatherman lives way up north in Darwin (practically that other side of the country to Sydney hehe). I would love to hear his take on this when he get's a chance - I can imagine the meteorological agencies would be going banana's at the moment!

I know this is gonna sound...stupid, but i wish i was there to grab some photos. Mars with an ocean.

I think it is beautiful, though i feel for those whom have dust coming outta their ears.

I like this quote

"It looks foggy but it's not fog, if you're going to do a movie about the end of the world you'd do it today," he said.

www.abc.net.au...

Its all good here in Brisbane just a bit of hazy from Bushfires etc and also windy too

Originally posted by wycky
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]


Makes me think of instant Tang or koolaid powder. Stick your tongue out......mmm, orange.

Argh. it was scary, i woke up and all the light that was shining through my window was red, and then i went outside and it was so dusty!
after it had sort of cleared out you could look up ad see the sunit looked orange cause of all the dust.
It was pretty cool, if you ask me.

You guys are taking this really well, very brave.

I am freaked out seeing this, I read on page one that this is unusual, but have any of you ever recalled seeing the sky like this before in your lifetime?

Also where does the red dirt come from? How far away from Sydney to where there is a large mass of red dirt?

And which direction is it coming from as Sydney is on the coast and it looks like it is out over the ocean. If so how far out does it go?

Watch the animals and consider a mask if you can.

I dont know this is just ominous I would love to hear what the local aboriginals have to say about it...

Hey all ATS im from the blue mountains in nsw ,i awoke this morning to a red like haze through the window !! reminded me heaps of mars! and its the same all over nsw as what i can gather from facebook .its like the red dust from the middle of australia?? secret tests ?? possibility?? the dust is every where mabey a swine flu mask mite come in handy?
here are sum pics of the dust left behind i572.photobucket.com...
i572.photobucket.com...
i572.photobucket.com...

Originally posted by antar
You guys are taking this really well, very brave.

We're a tough mob us Aussies We've lived through many bushfires and other disasters - this is more like a novelty compared to that hehe.

I am freaked out seeing this, I read on page one that this is unusual, but have any of you ever recalled seeing the sky like this before in your lifetime?

Not anywhere near this thick no, this is the first time in living memory for most Sydneysiders.

Also where does the red dirt come from? How far away from Sydney to where there is a large mass of red dirt?

Basically the entire centre of our country is red dirt - that's why we are called "The Sunburnt Country". It been picked up somewhere in eastern South Australia and western New South Wales and has been carried across east to Sydney .

And which direction is it coming from as Sydney is on the coast and it looks like it is out over the ocean. If so how far out does it go?

Your best bet is to look at www.bom.gov.au it's the Bureau of Meteorology they have sattelite imagery and rader scans of the Sydney area and surrounds.

Watch the animals and consider a mask if you can.

Our animals are even more used to natural disasters than we humans are lol. They know what to do down here. But yeah, good idea to keep all pets inside for the time being.

I dont know this is just ominous I would love to hear what the local aboriginals have to say about it...

I'm sure they would have a fascinating Dreamtime story or lesson to relate to the event

reply to post by Kryties


Thankyou for your reply, I will look forward to hearing more from other locals as well. Could there have been some sort of event in the middle of your desert ? Have you checked recent seismology?

reply to post by antar


I heard that there were some unusual weather patterns around the central areas of Australia yesterday, and apparently it was strong winds gushing through that picked up the dust and then started dumping it on Sydney and it's surrounding area's.

Apparently we are in for gale force winds here in Sydney either late this afternoon or tonight.

Oh and you might not hear from many Aussies for a few hours as most people are at work at the moment - it's 10.30am here. Maybe lunchtimeish some people will come on - if not they will when they get home from work this arvo

[edit on 22/9/2009 by Kryties]

Meteorologically wise the first few days of Spring for Australia has been quite eventful so far, Ive heard of Tennis-ball sized Hailstones dropping down in places aswell as Supercell storms building, with more of the same due later on after the front bringing the Dust Storm clears.

Ive heard estimates that up to 10 million gallons of water will be wasted from washing cars due to this Dust Storm, that's unless the rains get in there first.

METAR for SYD, basically saying Temporary blowing dust up until 3pm, Vis below 1700m in dust with severe turbulence below 5000ft. Conditions improving after 6pm but still with 30-42kt winds blowing dust.

SYDNEY (YSSY)
TAF AMD YSSY 222245Z 2300/2406
29030G45KT 2000 BLOWING DUST
FM230200 27030G45KT 5000 BLOWING DUST
FM230600 25025G40KT CAVOK
FM231000 25015G25KT CAVOK
FM231400 25015KT CAVOK
TEMPO 2300/2306 1500 BLOWING DUST
RMK FM230000 MOD/SEV TURB BLW 5000FT TILL 232400
T 18 20 20 18 Q 997 996 999 1004

TTF SPECI YSSY 222300Z 31030G42KT 1800 BLOWING DUST VV/// 17/03 Q0996
RMK RF00.0/010.0
FM2330 29030G45KT 3000 BLOWING DUST
TEMPO 2330/0200 2000 BLOWING DUST
FM2300 MOD/SEV TURB BLW 5000FT

ATIS YSSY V 222322
APCH: EXP ILS APCH
RWY: 25
SFC COND: DUST PATCHES ON RWY
WND: 280/20-30
XW MAX 25 KTS
VIS: 1700M IN DUST
TMP: 17
QNH: 996
+ SIGWX: SEVERE TURB REPORTED ON FINAL

reply to post by ROBL240


Bloody hell, that's a lot of dust!

I dare say that within the next 24 to 48 hours some other parts of the world will be having a little taste of Australia!

Well I finally got to work and all's well here except the dust storm is dominating all conversations pretty much (I work for a newspaper group in Sydney so it's major headlines obviously). On the way to work it was a major topic on every station - Triple J actually had a comical 'end of the world confessional' where people called in to confess embarrassing things before the SHTF so to speak.

Anyway, the creepiness of the event pretty much subsided by 8am with the sun rising just enough to take the edge off the redness. A rusty haze still blankets the area, but it's not as apocalyptic as earlier this morning.

Getting back to when I first woke up and noticed all this - our bedroom window faces the street, so when I woke up and the window was blood red I assumed that either an Australia Post truck or a Coca-Cola truck was parked outside. I asked my wife, 'Why the hell is everything red?" Then I got up and walked down the hall and the whole damn house was red. It was the weirdest weather related experience I've ever had. Most dust storms happen later in the day, and although they look ominous, they just can't match a dawn dust storm. The low angled light made it other-worldly.

Here are a few photos submitted to the paper I work for that I thought really captured the colour around dawn when it looked the worst:

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/5c6fb8cec5ce.jpg[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/5b4cfe1490bf.jpg[/atsimg]

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/bfeb4c5391a5.jpg[/atsimg]

I live in Brisbane and the dust has made it's way up here already. We don't have the red sky obviously as the sun is well up in the sky (somewhere). Currently it is very windy outside and everything is an eerie shade of light orange, visibility is very low.. not going outside until it's past but I've left all my windows and doors open at home because it was supposed to reach 33 degrees here today, guess I'll be spending the evening cleaning *sigh*