The 2009 Sydney Dust Storm
When Sydney-siders Painted the Town Red...
On September 23, 2009, Sydney didn't wake up to its usual sunny sky and fresh breeze, but something that better resembled a barron Martian landscape.
More than 1000 kms long and 500 kms wide, the thick red dust plume was clearly visible from space, and air particle concentrations recorded an unbelieveable 15, 400 micrograms per cubic metre of air.
The dust, some 16 million tonnes in total (!), was carried in by a storm from the red plains of central Australia. The wind, which continued to blow the dust east, not only coated two states red, but also resulted in the loss of 75, 000 tonnes of dust per hour off the east Australian coast.
Below are some pictures of this astounding phenonema, enjoy!