Sydney's Sky Turns Orange: Rare Weather Phenomenon Paints the Town

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Sydney 'Skies have turned orange across the region due to a massive dust storm. South Australia .

Intense winds triggered dust storms across South Australia on Monday. Overnight, powerful westerly gusts lifted additional topsoil, and an air current transported the dust and sand toward Victoria, extending as far as the east. NSW by Tuesday morning.

The topsoil became susceptible to erosion after an extended period of drought across most of South Africa, where numerous areas in the southern part faced historically low precipitation levels in recent months.

The 'dust front' could be seen in satellite imagery on Monday over South Australia and western Victoria.

By 3 pm yesterday, the dust cloud was believed to have extended approximately 600 kilometers, enveloping sections of eastern South Australia, northwest Victoria, and southwestern New South Wales.

By early Tuesday morning, it might appear as a brown mass hovering above the Tasman Sea.

As the travel continued, the dust noticeably thinned out yet stayed dense enough to cast an unusual orange hue across Sydney for its residents.

This meteorological occurrence is uncommon, as the previous significant dust storm that hit Sydney happened back in 2009, painting the sky an intense shade of orange for several days and depositing thousands of tons of soil into Sydney Harbour.

Weatherzone's AnthonySharwood stated that the duststorm was not unexpected.

'Consider the most arid 15 months period recorded over a hundred and fifty years. Then factor in the harshest cold front so far this year, accompanied by wind speeds reaching up to 80 km/h,' he penned down.

'And just like that, a huge dust storm swept through South Australia mere days before winter began.'

Specialists mentioned that a strong cold front, among the most potent this year, was responsible.

Power outages affected numerous homes and establishments in parts of SA on Monday due to strong gusts reaching velocities of up to 126 km/h.

Strong waves from high tides along with intense rainfall battered the southern region, causing damage to jetties and piers.

Across the border, roughly 3500 homes situated north of Bendigo were left without electricity as gusts reaching 70km/h struck Victoria.

The wandering dust cloud significantly reduced visibility at airports located between South Australia and the Tasman Sea.

Weatherzone stated that observations from Canberra Airport indicated hazy conditions throughout the night, with visibility dropping to approximately 5-6 kilometers for over an hour due to the dust blowing across the ACT region.

'Comparable decreases in visibility were likewise observed in various parts of the Illawarra and South Coast regions of New South Wales.'

'Sydney Airport’s aviation forecast, utilized for the safe planning and operation of flights, also cautioned about blowing dust on Tuesday morning.'

The Meteorological Service stated that there will be 'dust in the morning' on Tuesday.

Officials cautioned that the air quality in numerous areas of Sydney and the Illawarra region was still 'very poor' as of 10 am on Tuesday.

The New South Wales Environmental Protection Agency advised people throughout Sydney and Wollongong to remain inside, shut their windows and doors, and refrain from outdoor physical exertion due to poor air quality.

However, it also indicated that additional strong winds would buffet the NSW coastline 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 cautionary notice is also applicable to the Snowy Mountains, Northern Tablelands, North West Slopes, and Plains regions.

The dust is anticipated to keep moving across the Tasman and will likely dissipate from the coastal areas.

Rain is also anticipated to briefly revisit the flood-affected regions along the eastern part of New South Wales.

Showers might form once more later this week in those areas.

Winds will weaken overnight as overall conditions start to settle down.

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