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Duststorm hits downunder.

bernieh

By bernieh

29 comments


This past week over here in Oz we have experienced an amazing dust storm – the country’s worst in 70 years.

A huge outback dust storm – 500 km (310 mi) wide by 1,000 km (620 mi) long – swept across the mid-eastern Australia coastline and blanketed our largest city Sydney on Wednesday, September 23rd.

It grounded flights and stopped bus and car traffic in Sydney. Anyone who ventured outside in Sydney, especially at dawn, was greeted by a Martian sky, with familiar landmarks blotted out by the heavy red dust blowing by.

(not my photo, but copyright free!)

By afternoon, the red outback grit had moved on from Sydney, heading north to the Queensland state capital of Brisbane, where the sky was clogged into the evening. I just happened to be visiting Brisbane and this was the sight that greeted my eyes as the dust moved up over the north-western suburbs where I was visiting my grandchildren:

That red dust is what we refer to as Bull Dust. It’s incredibly fine like talcum powder and gets into everything and everywhere.

After arriving back home up here in the north of Queensland just yesterday, I was greeted with a completely dust-covered home. It is everywhere!!! Unfortunately the dust is still being blown about today – it’s not expected to stop until the weekend when it’s supposed to be completely blown out to sea.

I’ve made a feeble attempt to clean today but it’s futile – the winds are still blowing and the dust is still in the air. This photo shows the colour of the dust collected today.

Dust storms here in Australia of course, are not a new phenomena – in the interior of the country they are a seasonal event – but they don’t often cross the Great Dividing Range and reach the coastline! This particular dust storm has now travelled over 1700 kilometres along the eastern coastline from central New South Wales to north Queensland!

Meteorologists have said the particularly wet weather we received at the end of summer earlier in the year was to blame – as flooding rains across 62 per cent of the Queensland flushed top soil from northern and central Queensland to South Australia. A dry spell then turned the soil to dust which has since been whipped up by strong gale-force south-easterly winds.

Just gotta love this great country of ours!!!!

More blog posts by bernieh

Previous post: Two of my favourite native northern Oz winter flowering trees - Cochospermum gillivraei and Bombax ceiba leiocarpum

Next post: A spring gardening weekend in northern Oz.



Comments

 

its been on our teles..it looks awefull. hope it clears soon.

1 Oct, 2009

 

It looks terrible, I sympathise with you on having to clean all your home, it gets every where and lasts for months trying to get rid of it all, I have been under simular circumstances.

1 Oct, 2009

 

It's the health angle that concerns me the most - particularly those people with lung problems anyway.

1 Oct, 2009

 

Goodness Bernieh,never again will I moan when preparing to decorate( actually I bet I do) it looks really eerie,hope it clears soon for you,looking at your pics one can almost taste it..........

1 Oct, 2009

 

I have seen this (on the TV) but I'm pleased to say I have never had to suffer it. It must be awful and quite dangerous too. How do people cope while they are driving?

1 Oct, 2009

 

Wagger - I was visiting my grandchildren in Brisbane when it came through on Wednesday and two of them suffer a bit with asthma ... had to close up the house and keep them indoors that afternoon and all the next day!! Luckily they came through it OK.

1 Oct, 2009

 

Ian - lots of people just stayed at home in Sydney. There was almost no visibility down there - in Brisbane it wasn't as bad.

1 Oct, 2009

 

This is so hard to get rid of..I wish you luck..when Mt. St. Helens dusted us..it took 3 springs of heavy rain before the trees were bright green again..this powdery dust is just awful..the only thing we found that worked at all to clear it off our pathways and porches was lots of rinsing with hose pipe water...and it still fluffed back in...

1 Oct, 2009

 

Yes have seen some pics of this spectacular sight, so glad this is a sort of weather we don't have to complain about in this country! How awful to have it gettting everywhere, hope you manage to get cleaned up soon.

1 Oct, 2009

 

Thanks for the tip Catfinch - that's exactly what we were planning on doing when the dust finally clears. We have a huge verandah on three sides of our house and it will be getting a few hose downs.

1 Oct, 2009

 

Lily2 - I think I'll be cleaning up for quite some time trying to get rid of this fine red dust. My house is made of wood - walls and floors - and everywhere is covered in dust. Despite several cleaning attempts there's footprints everywhere on the wooden floors!!

1 Oct, 2009

 

Gives you a good reason for a couple of cold tinnys to wash it downyour throat though, here I've got to find excuses!!! lol
brill pic of the opera house it looks like the end of the world !!!

1 Oct, 2009

 

Definitely a great excuse for a coldie!! (There's not many occasions when a coldie seems out of place over here Indy!) Have to agree about the opera house photo - it's a bit doomsday looking isn't it? By the time the dust had moved north to Queensland it was more of an orange than that deep red - but still downright annoying!

1 Oct, 2009

 

Oh crickey not much fun for people with lung problems - and to think last year I moaned when we got a bit of sand from the sahara come over and cover the car!

1 Oct, 2009

 

I'm convinced be there in a tick!!!

1 Oct, 2009

 

Looks and sounds Terrible dont envy you all the cleaning up,it must have been awful for people with chest problems, hope it all clears away quickly.

1 Oct, 2009

 

I hope it clears soon for you. I'm glad your grand children were not affected too much.

1 Oct, 2009

 

It's hard to get your head around the size of the dust cloud Bernieh ! Glad it doesn't come your way too often and all the best with the cleaning up !! :- ((

1 Oct, 2009

 

Thanks Pansypotter, Hywel and Sue ... it looks so much clearer today. It's still hazy outside but so far no wind, so serious clean-up begins today.

1 Oct, 2009

 

Oh Bernie what a dreadful mess we have seen it on t.v. but your blog brings a clearer picture (pardon the pun) of how it affects the general public over there
I hope your lovely garden and house are soon dust free How have the wildlife coped with the dust?
Thinking of you

1 Oct, 2009

 

Thanks Neellan - actually the wallabies have not been around at all except for that one mother who's a regular. The birds have been rather quiet too! I'd imagine it would be just as annoying for the wildlife as it is for us. Today seems to be a whole lot better so far - hazy but the winds have dropped and most of the dust seems to have gone out to sea now.

1 Oct, 2009

 

I am most concerned to hear your news - I hope you, your family, native wildlife and your lovely garden are going to be ok. Your comments suggest all is going to be ok with the former but what effect will it have on your garden?

I need some sand for drainage and laying some slabs. Having an unexpected free home delivery like this would not however be very welcome. I mean it is bad enough clearing up after a delivery so to have it dumped everywhere must be truly awful.

It might be out of place to try to cheer you up on this blog so I am moving on to your next blog.

4 Oct, 2009

 

It's mostly cleared now Gardeningfriend. The wallabies have been noticeably absent this past week and there have been far less birds around than normal - so I think they've found it difficult as well.

While there's still dust settling around and in the house, it doesn't seem to have caused any trouble in the garden.

And would you believe today the air was also filled with smoke haze from a large bushfire nearby!!

4 Oct, 2009

 

Bernieh - Wet summer, flooding, drought, wind, dust storms, disappearing wildlife, bush fire, smoke haze and wilting plants - and just as you thought things couldn't get any worse GF turns up on your site - no wonder you are downunder. Surely things can only get better now, but I am sending you a good luck spell just to make sure.

4 Oct, 2009

 

Hi Gardeningfriend - it's bright and early on Monday morning here and Miss Grumpy (me) has got out of bed on the right side today. You magic must have worked. The courtyard plants seem to be a lot happier this morning - I think they're all definitely coming to come through.

4 Oct, 2009

 

Hi Bernie - Dusty Springfield singing "I can see clearly now" - springs to mind.

10 Oct, 2009

 

Thanks Gardeningfriend ... and would you believe - it's raining! Here we are 9.00 pm and it's been raining for nearly 45 minutes ... it's magical!!! (and completely unheard of at this time of year!) I think all your positive thoughts must be working.

10 Oct, 2009

 

Up in Cape York we got the dust also ,it stayed with us for a week .

15 Oct, 2009

 

Oh it was the same here ... we had high winds all during that time and cleaning was a total waste of time. Then we had bushfires break out and there was smoke haze for another week - the awesome power of Mother Nature.

15 Oct, 2009

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