A huge dust storm that whipped up in South Australia on Monday has swept over Sydney and other areas of NSW on Tuesday morning, along with a surge of blustery westerly winds.

A powerful cold front passing over drought-affected areas of SA and Vic on Monday caused dry topsoil to become airborne as strong winds scoured the parched landscape. By 3pm on Monday, a massive cloud of dust was stretching around 600 km across eastern SA, northwest Vic and southwest NSW.

Image: Visible satellite images showing a dust storm developing over the dry SA outback on Monday afternoon.

The dust whipped up on Monday travelled towards the east overnight and by sunrise on Tuesday, it had reached eastern NSW and the Tasman Sea. While the dust had thinned out during its long journey from SA to the country’s east coast, there was still enough to cause a hazy start to the day.

The video below uses false colours to help differentiate cloud from dust, with the dust appearing pink.

Video: False-colour satellite images showing a large dust storm (pink) crossing southeastern Australia on Monday into Tuesday morning.

Observations from Canberra Airport reported haze overnight, with visibility reduced to around 5-6 km for more than one hour as the dust blew over the ACT. Similar visibility reductions were also reported in other areas of the Illawarra and South Coast regions of NSW. Sydney Airport’s aviation forecast, which is used to help safely plan and operate flights, also warned of blowing dust on Tuesday morning.

Image: Dust haze seen from Wollongong on Tuesday morning. Source: @_gabrieldalton / Instagram

In addition to the dust, parts of eastern NSW are also being buffeted by brisk westerly winds on Tuesday. As of 8am AEST, a severe weather warning is in place for damaging winds in the Illawarra and parts of Mid North Coast, Hunter, South Coast, Central Tablelands, Southern Tablelands, Snowy Mountains, Northern Tablelands and North West Slopes and Plains Forecast Districts.

The dust will continue to move out over the Tasman Sea on Tuesday morning, clearing from eastern NSW. Wind will also ease during Tuesday night as conditions start to calm down in the wake of the front.