Massive dust storm hits New South Wales, turns sky dark red

A massive dust storm swept over parts of New South Wales, Australia on January 8, 2019, turning the sky dark red and causing thousands of homes to lose power.

BOM spokeswoman said the cause of the Mars-like conditions were strong winds produced by a thunderstorm. "They lifted the dust off the ground and blew it around," she said.

At the peak of the storm, more than 5 000 homes were left without power. Most of the outages were repaired before the night.

According to Cairns Post, Temora, Ariah Park and Barellan were hit by huge dusty clouds that turned the skies a deep red.

Residents say although dust storms in this area are frequent, they have never been so intense.

One of the residents said the storm was over as quickly as it began. "Everything picked up for a minute and all of a sudden it was gone," he said.

Teo Blašković

I'm a dedicated researcher, journalist, and editor at The Watchers. With over 20 years of experience in the media industry, I specialize in hard science news, focusing on extreme weather, seismic and volcanic activity, space weather, and astronomy, including near-Earth objects and planetary defense strategies. You can reach me at teo /at/ watchers.news.

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