"Sydney looks good in orange"

[velvet]

Amazing dust-storm blew through today. Some great shots here: http://www.abc.net.au/news/photos/2009/09/23/2693741.htm

[tainted_chimp]

1. Very eerie and beautiful!

And visible from space!



Looks very difficult to breathe in.

Thanks for posting!

:)

[MrMickeysMom]

2. N95 mask, anyone?

It's the only thing I can think that will filter all that stuff out of the lung.

[Suich]

3. Wow!

Makes me cough just looking at the clips!

Thanks for posting!

:hi:

[tainted_chimp]

4. Why?

Why is this happening?

"Mick told ABC Online: "In Sydney's south-western suburbs I've just woken up to a glowing red window! Thought it was Armageddon! Either that or South Korea had nuked us!"
Another ABC Online contributor wrote in: "Red. Dusty. Making hard to breath... There are baby birds dead in our backyard. And our cat's gone missing."

[velvet]

5. combination of factors

Dry interior, cold front, large low pressure area, unusually strong wind.

Central Australia is a very dry place and dust storms are a common occurrence. Associate Professor Michael Box from the School of Physics at the UNSW says that while dust storms originating in this region are common, it's far less common that the dust is carried 1,500 km to Sydney. But very strong westerly winds pushed dust from the Lake Eyre Basin area to the east coast.

Professor Box says Australian dust is much redder than other dust, for example from the Sahara Desert, because of its higher iron oxide content.

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/1097162/The-red-sky-effect-explained

Some news sources are saying it was Sydney's worst dust storm in 70 years, so it's not like it's never happened before. Climate change may cause it to happen more often.

But there is a bright side ...

When this type of dust blows over the ocean it has been attributed to helping fertilize plankton, due to the high iron oxide content. These "plankton blooms" may in turn help to absorb carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, experts say. (Same source as quote above)

Poor baby birds, blown from their nests. However, why South Korea would want to nuke Sydney remains a mystery.