Forecasters say that the city of Sydney may be hit by more dust clouds this weekend when strong winds blow in from the Australian Outback. This comes as city authorities cleaned up from yesterday's choking storms. The Bureau of Meteorology said winds as fast as 40 miles an hour may blow more dust and top-soil in the country's dry interior tomorrow and cause a haze in Sydney on September 26. Though they are forecasting that it won't be as bad as the previous storm. According to the weather bureau, the dust storm, more than 500 kilometers wide and 1,000 kilometers long, was the largest to hit Sydney since the 1940s and was driven from the drought-stricken Outback by gale-force winds. About 75,000 metric tons of dust an hour was blown over the city during the peak of the storm yesterday morning, according to the New South Wales state government. More than 100 sweepers took to the streets of central Sydney early today to brush away the dust residue.
Air pollution readings for the region were the highest ever recorded and the state Health Department reported a spike in the number of people needing medical attention for breathing problems. Paramedics treated 218 people in Sydney yesterday for respiratory complaints, it said. Source: Bloomberg
The Bureau of Meteorology said a big cold front in New South Wales caused severe thunderstorms and gale-force winds, which whipped up the dust from the inland and spread it across Australia's most populous state. Winds of more than 100 km per hour also fanned bushfires in the state. We are literally seeing earth, wind and fire manifesting themselves in an unprecedented manner.
Forecasters say that the city of Sydney may be hit by more dust clouds this weekend when strong winds blow in from the Australian Outback. This comes as city authorities cleaned up from yesterday's choking storms. The Bureau of Meteorology said winds as fast as 40 miles an hour may blow more dust and top-soil in the country's dry interior tomorrow and cause a haze in Sydney on September 26. Though they are forecasting that it won't be as bad as the previous storm. According to the weather bureau, the dust storm, more than 500 kilometers wide and 1,000 kilometers long, was the largest to hit Sydney since the 1940s and was driven from the drought-stricken Outback by gale-force winds. 