On the east coast of Australia, mainly in Sydney and Brisbane but also in the western parts of the country , there are really bad dust storms..

The dust is really thick and its everywhere.. in your eyes, hair, on your clothes and skin. It makes your eyes sting and realy aggravates an asthmatic condition you may have..

They estimate that 75,000 tonnes of dust / dirt is being blown across the country every hour and into the ocean..

We have had these storms before but this one has been made worse by the really very dry conditions we are having due to teh drought..

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,26114000-421,00.html

Hi MAree,
what is the cause of this event? Pollution? It's the first time that I heard such thing

It happens in the outback where there is a lot of wide open spaces and a lot of bare earth and the wind gets up.. It just then blows and blows till it runs itself out ..

There was hardly any today but they forecast that the dust wil be back on the weekend.. I have spent all day washing clothes, floors etc and dusting but you can still see the dust!! So I'll be doing that again on Sunday / Monday!! Its a red/ brown colour which is the colour of the dust in the Outback..therefore its name The Red Centre..


We get them every now and again but this one is the worst in 70 years they say....

Here are some pictures of the dust storm starting at Ayers Rock / Uluru .. You can tell why we call it the red centre!!

frightening! I've never seen something like that before!!! Pay attention!!

They aren't pleasant things. You can still smell the dust in the air now days later...

Now they have passed its time to start the cleaning!!! Thats going to be so much fun...not!!