I knew it!

Sydney dust storm all gone now

Amazing what a few hours and a bit of wind can do. Except for the dust covering everything you wouldn't even know we had just looked like we'd been through the apocalypse. The dust has been blown out to sea and is well on its way to NZ.

Click here or scroll down to check out the earlier Dust Storm posts to see how dusty it was earlier today.

Sydney dust storm 5

Some more shots of our glorious Sydney panorama today. Photo number 3 is of the iconic Sydney Opera House. Notice the the soaring sails of this outstanding piece of architecture. No? You can't see it? Photo 4 is Woolloomooloo and the Garden Island dockyards... apparently. Even St Mary's Cathedral (photo 2) is semi-hidden in a shroud of dust and she is only a few hundred metres away. The foyer of the Deutsche Bank building next door (photo 5), where I get my morning coffee and toast, had half a dozen security drones out wiping down tables and chairs that had a thick layer of the Northern Territory on them.

Speaking of the Northern Territory. Has anyone checked to see if the Northern Territory and South Australia are still there? Probably a billion tonnes of the NT and SA have been dumped on the east coast this morning. The last time a dust storm of this size hit Melbourne in 1983 the glaciers in New Zealand turned red. Yep, it blew all the way across the Tasman.

To put into context where this storm has come from, imagine if you're in the US it would be like Iowa being blown to and getting dumped on New York or Atlanta. Or for the Euro trash, if half the soil in Russia blew over Paris or London. They probably wouldn't have the pretty shade of red our dust has though.

If I was an early riser I could've seen the more red tinge to everything. The SMH has some pictures here and the ABC here.

As I write this it is about 11.30AM and dust is about the same as when I made the photos an hour or so ago.

Sydney dust storm 4

What do you do when you work in a building with a view? You duck up to the 28th floor (top) and take some happy snaps. Can you believe we're breathing this shit in? Check out photo number 7. That is dust that has settled on all the window sills in this building.

Sydney dust storm 3

Well I ducked down to the station to catch my train and get out of the dusty swirling wind. People are wandering around with face masks or scarves wrapped around their faces. I looked up the tunnel after I got downstairs to the station and I could even make out the dust coming down the tunnel a bit. So much for using the train tunnels to shelter from nuclear fallout if we ever get nuked.

Martin Place is a bit dusty. The dust isn't as thick as they were showing on the tele this morning though. Lots of red dust on the ground though. Practically every foyer I could see had cleaners with brooms and vacuum cleaners trying to hold back the red tide. I didn't notice my shoes until I got to work.

The wind has dropped a little so we may be stuck with the dust for the rest of the day. I don't think there are any flights coming from or going out of Sydney this morning.

Sydney dust storm 2

Crossing Prince Alfred park to Central Station. Again, usually you can see the city skyline no worries. It is a pretty good view... usually.

Sydney dust storm

We woke as usual to the ABC news on the radio. This morning the big news is the dust storm that is enveloping Sydney. It was at its peak a couple of hours earlier but the sky is an eerie yellowish red this morning. Everything outside has a light dusting of red dust. The car washes are going to be flat out for the next few days. The second photo below is where you can usually see the city skyline but this morning you can't see shit.