The view out my window at 6am this morning.
The dust was covering the coast from Woollongong to Newcastle (includes Sydney) at six. Few hours later it had reached Brisbane.
The airport was shut down and international flights were diverted to Melbourne. The ferries on Sydney Harbour were stopped. They move heaps of communters every morning but they couldn't see far enough not to prang into each other.
The local ferries were stopped due to the visibility plus the big winds. Sydney traffic was on a go-slow and traffic here was quieter than usual.
It was bloody spooky. Not to mention, bloody dusty.
Taken from Ettalong Beach at lunchtime. Note the invisibility of Lion Island and Barrenjoey Head.
Same view today (left) and any other day (right).
Dust storm photos from Sydney (Flickr)
From the Sydney Morning Herald:
"The fiery haze was the result of the sun hitting the blanket of dust, Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Jane Golding said.
"The reason for the dust is we had some really strong winds in the inland areas of NSW and in South Australia for a sustained period yesterday," she said.
"That's lifted a whole lot of dust off the ground because it's quite dry out there, many of those areas are still drought affected."
The lifted dust had been carried by the winds into Sydney.
"I've not seen anything like this before," Ms Golding said.
The reddish haze was expected to fade as the sun got higher in the sky, Ms Golding said. The haze had turned from a crimson red to orange by about 7am, and then faded to yellow by about 7.30am.
But it was not known what would happen to the dust."
Dust turns Sydney sky red (links to video & photos, including a really fabulous one of The Coathanger)
Central Coast Ferries (Woy Woy etc. ferries) said:
"Ferries cancelled until further notice due to low visibilty and poor conditions as a result of the gale force winds and dust storm. Call skippers on 0418631313 for info on resumption of services predicted for this arvo."
It's clear now so they might be back on but it's still bloody blowy.
