Sydney sky turns orange courtesy of rare weather phenomenon
Destructive winds whipped up dust storms over SA on Monday. Strong westerlies then swept up more topsoil overnight and a wind stream carried the dust and sand over Victoria to reach eastern NSW by Tuesday morning.
The topsoil was vulnerable to being swept up following a lengthy spell of dry weather over much of SA with many places in the south experiencing record-breaking low rainfall in recent months.
The 'dust front' was perceptible on satellite images on Monday over SA and western Victoria.
The cloud of dust had stretched an estimated 600km by 3pm yesterday, covering parts of eastern SA, northwest Victoria and southwest NSW.
By Tuesday morning it could be seen as a brown mass hanging over the Tasman Sea.
The dust thinned considerably over the journey but remained thick enough to treat Sydneysiders to a rare orange glow over the city.
The weather event is rare, with the last major dust storm to reach Sydney in 2009 turning the sky a deep orange colour for days and dumping thousands of tonnes of dirt into Sydney Harbour.
Weatherzone's Anthony Sharwood said the dust storm did not come out of the blue.
'Take the driest 15-month spell in a century-and-a-half of records. Add the strongest cold front of the year to date with winds gusting up to 80km/h,' he wrote.
'And presto, a massive South Australian dust storm a few days out from winter.'
Visibility was heavily impacted throughout the morning by the dust.
'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,' Weatherzone said.
'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.'
The Bureau of Meteorology said there would be 'morning dust' on Tuesday.
But it also added there would be further winds to lash the NSW coast later in the day.
A severe weather warning is in place for damaging winds in the Illawarra and parts of the Mid North Coast, Hunter region, South Coast, Central Tablelands, Southern Tablelands.
The warning is also in place for the Snowy Mountains, Northern Tablelands, North West Slopes and Plains districts.
The dust is expected to continue to move over the Tasman and clear from the coastal regions.
Rain is also expected to briefly return to flood-battered areas of NSW's east.
It is possible showers will develop again later in the week in the regions.
Wind conditions will ease overnight as general conditions begin to calm.
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