[Dimi (OP)]

Its always a funny jump when you wake up and think the sky is on fire. Of course my first thought was there was a massive fire.. but we don't get fires here!

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/national/866509/sydney-and-parts-of-nsw-shrouded-in-dust

It was apparently due to a low pressure north easterly blowing to the east and Sydney got dust from the Northern Territory and Adelaide, due to our unstable weather haha!

I love experiencing the four seasons.

Anyhow I thought it'd be interesting to share. Its the first time I've been through this haha

[chris]

I'm in Sydney at the moment and when I woke up this morning I thought there must be a huge fire somewhere because the light coming into the room was bright orange.

Upon leaving the house we couldn't see more than a few hundred yards because the dust was so thick.

It's a bit better now but very unpleasant to breathe.

Chris

[SkepticSam]

Anyhow I thought it'd be interesting to share. Its the first time I've been through this haha

it's beautiful. You must be a youngster Dimi if this is your first. The last one was in 2002, May I think.

[Dimi (OP)]

@chris It is a bit unpleasent to breathe I was getting light headed after awhile to

@Sam ~

Really? I never noticed it! Was it as strong as this one? What region did it affect, I am only roughly 20 minutes away from the city.

[SkepticSam]

@chris It is a bit unpleasent to breathe I was getting light headed after awhile to

@Sam ~

Really? I never noticed it! Was it as strong as this one? What region did it affect, I am only roughly 20 minutes away from the city.

my mistake it was October not May

DUST STORM CREATES HISTORY IN SYDNEY


Updated Wednesday 23rd, 2009
Strong westerly winds across NSW have generated one of the most spectacular dust storms in the history of Sydney. An orange haze has covered the city, resulting in reduced visibility and transportation chaos.

The last dust storm to hit Sydney was in October 2002 but was not as big as the one seen today.

We are looking at it gradually improving later this morning to early afternoon but it should remain hazy all day.


DUST STORM BLANKETS BRISBANE


Updated Wednesday September 23, 2:15pm
A huge dust storm which earlier in the day affected NSW and parts of Queensland is passing through Brisbane, resulting in reduced visibility and traffic chaos.

The orange dust haze is expected to gradually improve during the late afternoon and into the evening.

[Laura_Kelly]

I suppose that's what happens when you live in a country that's like a giant dustbowl! Though it certainly has its charms of course.
Wouldn't happen in clean, green New Zealand of course!
(Forgive me, but us Kiwis use any chance to continue trans-tasman rivlary.)

[Dimi (OP)]

Haha the news people said that the dust might just blow into NZ! HA

[JimBob]

It really isn't that funny if you think about it. When a child in the 50's here in Texas we had these every few weeks for a few summers in a row. Drought this bad ruins crop-land, causes famine and silicosis - lung injury due to inhaled dust. This disease is a horrible way to die. It is the most common industrial disease in the world.

This dust storm should be a warning to the people down under. Don't know what they can do but ...

[Dimi (OP)]

True. I think mostly the dust storm was Farmer's top soil, which isn't good one bit. It must of been a very powerful storm.

That does sound like a terrible way to die...

I suppose the damage report will come out soon, but so far I think the main concern is the cleaning up process (estimated to be several million), and only to wait and see if the dust had any airborn bacteria and such...

It just happened to sudden! I understand it happens to people in the country fairly often, but it was such a new thing to experience.

But yeah, once you think about it.. maybe it wasn't such a healthy thing to go through. I did have trouble breathing, and I forced myself to keep my breaths very low.

I suppose its one of those things that you have to wait and see the results. The city of Sydney would never be prepared for something like this.