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East Australian Dust Storms

Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2009 8:48 pm
by pcmattman
Seems the dust storm that began in Canberra and moved up through Sydney is now here in southern Queensland: News Report.

You can see the pictures our leading newspaper is publishing (and that are being shown on the news) HERE.

I can only see around a hundred meters out my window, it's awesome! The dust is settling everywhere though - floors, tables, computers.

Re: East Australian Dust Storms

Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2009 10:28 pm
by ucosty
I woke up to this. It was quite a sight :o

Image

Re: East Australian Dust Storms

Posted: Tue Sep 22, 2009 11:08 pm
by Combuster
ucosty wrote:I woke up to this. It was quite a sight
Are you on Mars? :D

Re: East Australian Dust Storms

Posted: Wed Sep 23, 2009 12:12 am
by pcmattman
It's horrible, dust over everything - the floors are caked with the stuff.

Visibility is increasing though, it seems to be leaving, albeit slowly (no wind at the moment).

Re: East Australian Dust Storms

Posted: Wed Sep 23, 2009 11:23 am
by Brynet-Inc
Dust storms? do Australians ever vacuum?

Re: East Australian Dust Storms

Posted: Wed Sep 23, 2009 1:59 pm
by gravaera
Here in the caribbean we get "Sahara Dust" or so they call it. Dust from the Sahara supposedly carries on a certain trade wind and ends up in large quantities in one or two caribbean countries. I'm not sure how authentic that claim is though.

But that storm looks slightly scary. Do they ever get serious enough to cause any real damage?

Re: East Australian Dust Storms

Posted: Wed Sep 23, 2009 9:54 pm
by pcmattman
A satellite picture of the dust:
Image

Clear blue skies now :)

Re: East Australian Dust Storms

Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2009 11:55 am
by Solar
gravaera wrote:Here in the caribbean we get "Sahara Dust" or so they call it. Dust from the Sahara supposedly carries on a certain trade wind and ends up in large quantities in one or two caribbean countries. I'm not sure how authentic that claim is though.
Absolutely. Depending on weather conditions, you get the same effect here in Europe - but nowhere near that what Australia is enduring ATM.

Re: East Australian Dust Storms

Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2009 2:15 pm
by frank
I always knew the Apocalypse would begin in Australia. :wink:

But on a serious note is there a known cause? Or something that could be done to help stop this in the future? I can only imagine what this is doing to people with asthma.

Re: East Australian Dust Storms

Posted: Thu Sep 24, 2009 5:05 pm
by pcmattman
But on a serious note is there a known cause?
Drought out west causing the top layer of soil to be extremely loose, picked up by gale force winds which continued all the way to the coast. At least that's how I understand it.
Do they ever get serious enough to cause any real damage?
The dust is a nuisance in that it gets everywhere, but generally it doesn't cause damage directly. Some places had storms come through along with the dust, which meant lots and lots of mud (and hailstones, which could have caused damage).

For what it's worth, this is nothing new to areas outside the capitals ;).

The capitals also didn't get it so bad, because we could still see :D.

Re: East Australian Dust Storms

Posted: Fri Sep 25, 2009 3:37 pm
by Alboin
pcmattman wrote:For what it's worth, this is nothing new to areas outside the capitals ;).
Is that a real video? It's not edited is it?

If it is, that's really very remarkable.

Re: East Australian Dust Storms

Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 3:30 am
by Steve the Pirate
Alboin wrote:
pcmattman wrote:For what it's worth, this is nothing new to areas outside the capitals ;).
Is that a real video? It's not edited is it?

If it is, that's really very remarkable.
Totally real... The dust was really weird - it hit us in the middle of the day - I was out in the morning, and everything was normal. I got home and was on the computer for an hour, and when I went out again the sky was red... I've washed my car three times since and it's still got dirt streaked on it... Really need to use a hose but I'm not sure if it's legal at the moment! While it looks awesome though, but gets annoying...

Re: East Australian Dust Storms

Posted: Thu Oct 15, 2009 4:56 am
by pcmattman
Really need to use a hose but I'm not sure if it's legal at the moment!
It was in the "wet weekend", except everyone who actually washed their cars ended up getting hit by the second storm :P. At the moment it's not, even after yesterday. Water Commission ftl :(.