Alien Dust Storm

Posted on 24 September 2009 by Stenberg-Tendys W.L. in Uncategorized

There are times in the great southern continent of Australia, when the sun is obliterated by dust, but never like the dust storm that swirled across the eastern seaboard of Australia this week.

Fine dust was lifted off the red heart of the great continent and sucked 3 km into the sky, by a deep low-pressure system and gale force winds. The massive dust storm, carrying millions of tonnes of dirt, was the biggest in 79 years.

Dragging up soil from three states, the dust plume grew to more than 1500 km long and 400 km wide, at its peak. Sweeping up 140,000 tonnes of soil an hour, the thick red dust blanketed Sydney, causing the city to be shrouded in a ghostly red glow.

Health officials urged people to stay indoors and international flights were interrupted, as air pollution records were broken. Air particle concentration levels reached 15,400 micrograms per cubic metre of air. A bushfire generates 500 micrograms. Visibility was lowered to only 400 metres.

Bureau of Meteorology NSW regional director Barry Hanstrum said ‘‘An event like this is extremely rare.’’

The storm was generated by an intense cold front moving across drought-affected areas in South Australia and NSW, which, combined with gale-force winds on its northern edge, churned up the rust-coloured dust, as it roared east at up to 100km an hour.

The freak weather, rained large hailstones over New South Wales, formed a mini-tornado near Canberra, coincided with a pair of minor earthquakes in Victoria and 21 bush fires in Queensland. “This is unprecedented. We are seeing earth, wind and fire together,” said Dick Whitaker from The Weather Channel.

Sydney University soil scientist Stephen Cattle said the storm was stripping valuable topsoil from far western NSW and the lower Lake Eyre basin. ‘‘There could be a few millimeters or more of soil lost from the surface,’’ Dr Cattle said. ‘‘Topsoil we can’t afford to lose.’’

Dust Storm

The dust cloud is expected to reach to New Zealand.

The dust storm is estimated to cost millions of dollars in lost productivity. The Sydney Morning Herald called it, “The day the country blew into town”.

Freak weather conditions are not unknown in Australia. In 1999 there was a massive ice storm and a wind storm in 1991 and massive dust storms in the 1980′s.

However, dust storms are not as uncommon a phenomena as some people think. As far back as the 1930′s massive dust storms have been recorded in various parts of the world.

Compartelo: