Environment

What Caused the Sydney Dust Storm That Turned the Sky Red?

by Amy Judd | September 22, 2009 at 07:20 pm

2186 views | 19 Recommendations | 9 comments

What caused the Sydney dust storm today that turned the sky red?

People in Sydney woke up this morning to a red sky that was a huge dust storm; it affected people's visibility, and health, and caused some people to remain inside.

But how does this happen?

The dust was driven by gale force winds from the desert, and the addition of thunderstorms in the region scattered the dust from the drought-ridden inland regions to the outside cities.

The intense red color came from the sun hitting a huge blanket of dust that had been whipped up by the winds and the weather.

It has been a difficult 24 hours for other parts of the Australian continent, which have been hit by earthquakes, hail storms and bushfires.

More dust storms are expected to come, along with gale force winds in some regions and even snow could fall in the Alpine regions.

Due to El Nino weather patterns in the region, Australia's dry conditions and dust storms could continue. Dust storms in Australia are not uncommon but they often stay inland.

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uminarampart

at 20:28 on September 22nd, 2009

what an amazing event. its gone as fast as it come.

messenger (not verified)

at 21:51 on September 22nd, 2009

remind me a sense from the bible

wintermute

at 01:09 on September 23rd, 2009

Thank you Amy for choosing my photo for your story! :) I took another this afternoon from the same location It is hard to believe they were taken on the same day.

http://media.nowpublic.net/images//88/c88c43c9f3dbabc46ce81da482701b967.jpg"

Cheers,

Tony.

Amy Judd

at 11:00 on September 23rd, 2009

Wow, that's amazing!

Beaulieu

at 01:29 on September 23rd, 2009

A nightmare for people with contact lenses.. thanks for uploading the story.

danesller0127

at 03:36 on September 23rd, 2009

I LOVE THIS COLOR.... BUT BEWARE! People with asthma and other respiratory problems were advised not to venture outdoors, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.

"The winds won't drop off until later today and when they do we think that the dust haze will start to clear," he said.
"The weather system that generated the dust yesterday is associated with gale force winds and the area which is most likely to be affected today is the Wollongong-Greater Sydney region and the <?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = YGG />Hunter Valley-Newcastle area.

"The winds at times during the morning will average 65kph, which is gale force, with some stronger squally gusts up to about 90-100kph."

The dust reduced visibility across the city and large parts of the state, with callers to ABC Radio saying the scene looked like something from the end of the world.

danesller0127

at 03:43 on September 23rd, 2009

GLOBAL WARNING! The Sydney dust storm is just the beginning...

Although weather conditions today are extremely rare, such storms have occasionally hit the east coast before, and any single weather event can be attributed to random factors that could occur with or without the effect of human-induced climate change.

THANKS AGAIN AMY! :D