‘Apocalyptic’ Red Dust Storm in Australia – You know what they say; Red sky in the morning…

Amazing! This is not a hollywood special effect nor is it a photoshop hue, but practically science fiction come reality: The worst dust storm Sydney has seen in 70 years –

A huge outback dust storm – 500 km (310 mi) wide by 1,000 km (620 mi) long – swept across eastern Australia and blanketed Sydney on Wednesday, September 23rd, disrupting flights and ground transportation and forcing people indoors for shelter from the hazardous air, gale-force winds, and in some places hailstorms.

Those few who ventured outside, especially at dawn, were greeted by a Martian sky, familiar landmarks blotted out by the heavy red dust blowing by.

A man walks his dog through Observatory Hill near Sydney on September 23, 2009 as Australia’s biggest city is shrouded in an eerie blanket of red dust.

Darling Harbour – Monorail

Sydney office buildings seen through the haze of a dust storm.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge vanishes into a dust cloud.

South view George Street toward the airport.

The above image is from NASA’s Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra satellite. In the image, you can see the dust rising and heading east in plumes.

You know what they say; Red sky in the morning…