Dust storm turns Sydney skies red

NineMSN ^ | 09/23/09 | ninemsn staff

[OldDeckHand]

Strong winds blowing in from the north-west have blanketed Sydney and much of NSW in high levels of dust. ... read more

Sydneysiders awoke to discover the sky was turned a hellish red in the extremely rare weather event.

Ferries have been cancelled and flights to Sydney airport have been diverted as visibility has been severely reduced.

Motorists have been urged to drive with their lights on and to adjust to the conditions as several roads, including Sydney Harbour Tunnel were closed

[OldDeckHand]

Very strange.

[Candor7]

Hey Fred, whats up with this red dust event. Is it global warming? Has the sky fallen?

[mylife]

And these chowderheads on the beach are huffing away in it “for their health”

[Deaf Smith]

I little more red than what you sometimes see in Lubbock.

[Ramius]

Woah.

Imagine an early primitive culture... how could they interpret that as anything other than the end of the world?

Gotta start sacrificing some animals...

[GOP Poet]

whoa. That would freak me out.

[Fred Nerks]

My Country

The love of field and coppice
Of green and shaded lanes,
Of ordered woods and gardens
Is running in your veins.
Strong love of grey-blue distance,
Brown streams and soft, dim skies
I know, but cannot share it,
My love is otherwise.

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of drought and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror
The wide brown land for me!
The stark white ring-barked forests,
All tragic to the moon,
The sapphire-misted mountains,
The hot gold hush of noon,
Green tangle of the brushes
Where lithe lianas coil,
And orchids deck the tree-tops,
And ferns the warm dark soil.
Core of my heart, my country!
Her pitiless blue sky,
When, sick at heart, around us
We see the cattle die
But then the grey clouds gather,
And we can bless again
The drumming of an army,
The steady soaking rain.

Core of my heart, my country!
Land of the rainbow gold,
For flood and fire and famine
She pays us back threefold.
Over the thirsty paddocks,
Watch, after many days,
The filmy veil of greenness
That thickens as we gaze…
An opal-hearted country,
A wilful, lavish land
All you who have not loved her,
You will not understand
though Earth holds many splendours,
Wherever I may die,
I know to what brown country
My homing thoughts will fly.

[Gay State Conservative]

My Country

Having been to your country a number of times,having seen a good portion of it (Indian-Pacific from Sydney to Broken Hill,,,Impressive!) and having applied for immigration status (denied...too old...not a brain surgeon) I can say your country is beautiful...and *way* cool.

Perhaps I'll try to bribe an immigration official so that I can live in my beloved Coogee Beach (seaside suburb of Sydney).

[Fred Nerks]

Interesting what you say about immigration...we sold a business not long ago to a family from South Africa. The residency requirements for the purchaser were quite simple;
they had to have enough money to buy a business that would employ three people full time. (A small restaurant in our case.)

They rented a home and enrolled their teenage daughters in a private school.

This allowed them to apply for citizenship.

They have since sold the business.

[Candor7]

Well then! I guess the red sky is part of all that. I have never seen anything quite like those photos, and I been around a bit, LOL.

[Gay State Conservative]

Your Immigration Dept has adopted a "points" system in considering applications,a system that gives particular advantage to the young and particularly well educated or those with in-demand skills (e.g.,nursing).In fact,I think this is a reasonable policy.It makes sense to me that a Western nation would only welcome those that can contribute the most to the country for the longest period of time before becoming a "burden" (increased health costs,retirement payments,etc).

Too bad that *our* current immigration "policy" is to "admit" anyone who might someday be allowed to vote Democrat.

[Fred Nerks]

just received a phone call from a relative in central Queensland, the old-timers say they have seen nothing like it, buckets full of fine red sand piled up against doorways. It’s coming from South Australia...lasted about 12 hours.

[Gay State Conservative]

just received a phone call from a relative in central Queensland, the old-timers say they have seen nothing like it, buckets full of fine red sand piled up against doorways. It’s coming from South Australia...lasted about 12 hours.

It must be a different thing.Sydney's dust is coming from the northwest and Queensland's is coming from the southwest.Springtime Down Under,I guess...just like tornadoes in our Midwest in the Spring.

[Candor7]

Interesting Dust storm.I hope that it doesn't last too long in cattle country.

I wonder if the walk about people have any legends about it?

[Fred Nerks]

http://www.workliveplay.qld.gov.au/dsdweb/v4/apps/web/content.cfm?id=4220

I think the South Africans who purchased our restaurant qualified under Business Migration.

[SunkenCiv]

Red skies at night, sailor’s delight. ;’)

[Fred Nerks]

IMAGE FROM 1915.

[Hot Tabasco]

Definitely weird but I’ll take red sand over white-out snow any day...............

[Candor7]

WOW! That looks very dangerous.

[John Will]

That would make for a totally awesome metal concert background.

[dfwgator]

Red Skies
The Fixx

Red skies at night
Wo oh oh oh oh
Red skies at night
Wo oh oh oh oh
Should have taken warning it’s just
People mourning
Running, hiding, lost
You can’t find, find a place to go

Red skies at night
Wo oh

Should have taken warning it’s just
People mourning
Running, hiding, lost
You can’t find, find a place to go

Red skies at night
Wo oh
Red skies at night
Wo oh oh

Someone’s taking over
And it look like they’re aiming
Right at you
Someone said we’ll be dead by morning
Someone cries leaving

Red skies at night
Wo oh oh

[Fred Nerks]

Can’t find any dust storm stories, but here’s a collection:

http://www.crystalinks.com/dreamtime.html

Australian Dreamtime
Australian Aboriginal Creation Myths

[NCC-1701]

It would be interesting to know the time of day those pics were taken. If that’s Bondi Beach, there’s no need for sunscreen now. Wonder what this dust storm looks like from space.

[OldDeckHand]

"It would be interesting to know the time of day those pics were taken."

This particular story didn't say, but another I read said that the colors were most vivid early in the morning and that the sky turned more of an orange color as the sun rose towards noon.