Woke up sneezing this morning at 4am...looked outside and the sky was RED. Sydney has been inundated by a massive dust storm from central NSW...well there goes what's left of the nation's topsoil, I thought lol
Sydney turns red: dust storm blankets city
ARJUN RAMACHANDRAN
September 23, 2009 - 8:14AM
Sydneysiders have woken to a red haze unlike anything seen before by residents or weather experts, as the sun struggles to pierce a thick blanket of dust cloaking the city this morning.
Callers flooded talkback radio, others hit social networking sites and scores of emails were received from smh.com.au readers as Sydney residents expressed their amazement at this morning's conditions
"It's just red, red, red as far as you can see," one caller at the Anzac Bridge told 2GB.
The fiery haze was the result of the sun hitting the blanket of dust, Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Jane Golding said.
"The reason for the dust is we had some really strong winds in the inland areas of NSW and in South Australia for a sustained period yesterday," she said. "That's lifted a whole lot of dust off the ground because it's quite dry out there, many of those areas are still drought affected."
The lifted dust had been carried by the winds into Sydney.
"I've not seen anything like this before," Ms Golding said.
The reddish haze was expected to fade as the sun got higher in the sky, Ms Golding said. The haze had turned from a crimson red to orange by about 7am, and then faded to yellow by about 7.30am.
But it was not known what would happen to the dust.
"This is such an infrequent event ... it's hard to say when the dust will stop."
Dust Turns Sydney Sky Red
Photos I got about 4.30 am...quite eerie. The ones taken with flash really illuminate the airborne particles:
Red Dawn - literally!
We need to hang onto what little we have! 
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