Spectacular red dust alert as Australia’s freak weather continues
by Sophie Tedmanson, Sydney
11 January 2013
A massive wall of red dust barrels towards ships bobbing in the ocean, looming large and causing a breathtaking, apocalypse-style spectacle on the horizon.
But this is not a scene from a Hollywood blockbuster – it is Mother Nature playing havoc after the freak summer weather conditions that have struck Australia this week.
As bushfires continued to ravage the southeast coast, 2,000 miles away across the other side of the country a cyclone is threatening this weekend, just days after the red-dust storm created an extraordinary natural phenomenon.
Tugboat operators working off the far northwest coast were treated to the spectacular sight as a thunderstorm, which had gathered red dust and sand as it passed over the Pilbara region in the Outback, cut a path towards them across the Indian Ocean on Wednesday.
Brett Martin was working on a tugboat about 25 nautical miles off Onslow in Western Australia when, just before sunset, he noticed the orange haze – topped off with billowy white dust clouds – across the skyline, rising up from the glassy, flat ocean.
But when the wild weather arrived the swell lifted to 6ft 6in (2m), winds increased to 40 knots and visibility was reduced to 100m.
“We were steaming along in the boat just before sunset and the storm was casually building in the distance, then it got faster and faster and it went from glass to about 40 knots in two minutes,” Mr Martin, who captured the stunning photos on his mobile phone, told the West Australian.
“I’ve never seen anything like it, it was pretty special and it was definitely an eerie feeling.”
Another tugboat operator, Isaac Kneipp, saw the storm approach while at a cyclone mooring off Onslow.
“I have been at sea for 15 years and I’ve been through dozens of cyclones and heavy weather,” he told the newspaper. “But this is one of the most visually spectacular I have seen. The storm lasted about an hour and then went back to calm weather.”
Back on land, the storm plunged daylight into darkness as it passed over Onslow, on the edge of the Pilbara mining region, at about 6pm. Nintey minutes later the gusts had reached 75mph (120km/h).
The spectacle was created as wind and rain caused the storm to dump the sand and dust it had gathered while passing Onslow, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
Western Australia is meanwhile bracing today for Tropical Cyclone Narelle – unrelated to the dust storm – which intensified as it approached the Pilbara coast last night.
The bureau said it was unlikely that Narelle, a category four cyclone, would directly hit the mainland, but winds are likely to pick up along the Pilbara coast by tomorrow, with destructive gusts over 80mph (130km/h) expected overnight.
The cyclone, still some 325 miles offshore, is moving southwest at 8mph (13km/h). Very destructive winds with gusts up to 155mph (250km/h) are possible near its centre, the bureau said.
Cyclone alerts have been issued in or near coastal and island communities, including Onslow, where the dust storm struck.
Western Australia’s multibillion-dollar resources industry was preparing for the cyclone, with some iron ore ports set to close and workers in some mines ready to be evacuated.
On the east coast meawhile fire authorities prepared for worsening weather over the weekend as fire crews battle to quell blazes that have raged this week, 14 of them out of control in the most populous state of New South Wales.
Two days of cooler weather brought a brief respite, but heat and high winds returned to much of the country today. Total fire bans are in place across New South Wales and Victoria, as well as the Australian Capital Territory as the record-breaking heatwave continued, with the mercury set to hit low to mid-40C range (above 104F).
“We’ve obviously got severe fire danger,” the NSW Deputy Rural Fire Service Commissioner, Rob Rogers, said. “On the back of those very warm days the vegetation is very dry and all we need is sparks and we will have a fire going.”
