23/09/2009: Much of eastern Australia, including Sydney, has awoken to eerie red skies this morning as one of the worst dust storms in decades has pushed in from the west.

Visibilities have been less than 100 metres at times, throwing the peak hour commute into chaos across Sydney, as ferry services were cancelled and flights in and out of the airport were disrupted.

“Dust storms of this magnitude are relatively common over inland parts of the country, but are very rare along the eastern seaboard,” weatherzone.com.au meteorologist Sam Terry said.

Over the last 24 hours a gusty front has pushed in from the west, driving hot northerly winds over eastern NSW, with some gusts in excess of 100km/h. Many places yesterday had one of their hottest days this month, with maximum temperatures exceeding the average by 10 or more degrees for some towns.

"Over the last few months rainfall has been below average over northern and central New South Wales", Terry said. "August in particular was dry, with many inland places receiving less than twenty percent of the average. This dryness is one of the main contributors to the unusual widespread dust cloud."

Although the dust cloud is slowly thinning across Sydney, visibility will remain poor across northern New South Wales and into southern Queensland. Brisbane can expect the dust storm to strike within the next few hours.

"The wind is swinging more westerly now, causing the dust to thin out over the Sydney and Hunter coast over the next few hours. The cloud of dust should start reaching Brisbane and the surrounding coast by 10am,” Terry said.

Media Inquiries:

Samuel Terry
media@weatherzone.com.au
02 9965 9236

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