Sept 23, 2009: Red Sydney

[xoxoxoBruce]

Sydney Australia, has been enveloped in red dust...



Dayum, looks like one of those middle eastern sandstorms.

Sydneysiders have woken to a red haze unlike anything seen before by residents or weather experts, as the sun struggles to pierce a thick blanket of dust cloaking the city this morning. Callers flooded talkback radio, others hit social networking sites and scores of emails were received from smh.com.au readers as Sydney residents expressed their amazement at this morning's conditions. "It's just red, red, red as far as you can see," one caller at the Anzac Bridge told 2GB.

It appears to have blown in from the desert.

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."

Oh, and it get worse.

Weather to get worse

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a severe weather warning across the state because of widespread damaging winds, which are expected to increase in force across Sydney this morning. "It's been close to 60km/h already this morning ... it's just a matter of time before it gets stronger," Ms Golding said.
Wind speeds this morning were expected to average over 65km/h, but there would be gusts in excess of 100 km/h, the Bureau said.

That ought to blow that crap into every nook and cranny.

link