Wendy?

[Dee]

Australia hit by worst dust storms in 70 years (http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/09/22/australia-sydney-dust-storm-outback.html)

http://www.cbc.ca/gfx/images/news/photos/2009/09/22/sydney-opera-cp-7368558.jpg

"A giant cloud of red dust has settled over Australia's largest city, closing the country's largest airport and prompting a spike in emergency calls.

The dust cloud settled over about a dozen towns and cities in two states on Wednesday as strong winds snatched up red topsoil in the country's dry interior and carried it hundreds of kilometres east."

Eeep!

[lucille]

Dee?

I am in the state of Victoria - about 500+ miles south. New South Wales and Queensland copped the brunt of this, and as the soil in the outback is red (full of iron minerals) and there is drought, the very fierce winds picked it up and sent it towards Canberra (Australia's capital city), Sydney (our largest city) and Brisbane (our tropical city). The footage looked like what you would imagine Mars to look like.

Melbourne and environs had a bad dust storm back in the eighties, but as we don't really have an outback in Victoria, it was just dirt coloured. So the report of "worst dust storm for 70 years" is not quite correct. I happened to be out on the bay on a yacht when this hit and it was amazing watching it roll in over the city and then down the bay. I'll see if I can find some photos of it and post them.

The whole country seems to be experiencing wild winds this year. Spring is reknown for windy weather, but this year we are having gales. Of course we are having the worst droughts of any of the other states, and when we do get rain, the wind comes the next day and dries everything out again.

[Dee]

Thanks for checking in Wendy. I knew you are in the south but wondered just the same. What a mess! Glad you're okay.

[lucille]

Thanks for your concern Dee.

This is the dust storm over Melbourne in 1983

http://www.bom.gov.au/lam/climate/levelthree/c20thc/storm7.htm

http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b214/lucille92/melbourneduststorm.jpg

Can you imagine how that looked from a small yacht on the bay. I thought it was the end of life as I knew it.:D We had no news source and mobile phones weren't an option, so didn't have a clue what was happening.

[Bat]

how did you ever find your way back to port? That would have scared me to pieces!!

[DaveM]

Looks like something straight out of America's Dust Bowl. That one was the fault not only of drought, but of rotten agricultural practices which did not protect the soil. Supposedly, it could not happen again. But there are the pictures, direct from another continent, while American talk radio stirs up a storm of its own, albeit one more akin to Nero with his fiddle.

[Eva]

Everything is covered with sand and there goes lunch! :eek:

[Dee]

Thanks for your concern Dee.

This is the dust storm over Melbourne in 1983

Nature can be terrifying and beautiful sometimes Wendy, and I can only imagine what was going through your mind when that came in from the horizon!

[aspiemom]

Wow, Wendy, that looks scary! How long did it take for that storm to settle?

[lucille]

how did you ever find your way back to port? That would have scared me to pieces!!

It was a little scary, but the worst part was that it went dark, and luckily we weren't that far out. As we were a little wet, by the time we got back on land we were covered with mud!

And yes, Dave, the dust came from the west of the state which had all the trees removed to grow wheat. The farmers are a little wiser now.

[hoops]

Wendy, DANGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG it looks like the world was ending. wow!
peace
hoops