Friday 25 September 2009

Rockdale railway station, dust storm (Skywatch Friday)

On Wednesday morning an eerie orange-red glare covered Sydney's sky, caused by the worst dust storm in 70 years. Strong winds carried the iron-rich dust from the dry outback interior to the east coast, creating a orange-red haze. Dust storms are more common in the desert and outback but this was a very unusual sight for Sydney. The photos above were taken at Rockdale railway station around 6.45am, on my way to work. The photos below were taken from the same location on Thursday afternoon, on my way home from work. What a difference a day makes. 
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99 comments:

  1. I saw this on the news yesterday! It is such an eerie sight.

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  2. I have seen this yesterday in German TV..it was scary..I hope your doing great there! tc!

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  3. Wow - that is quite unbelievable. I looked at your photos of the station on a normal day. What a difference. The dusty photos almost looks like what it would be on Mars. Very eerie!

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  4. Hi J Bar
    Sydney in Mars.
    I saw this reportage about Sydney yesterday by TV3, the Catalan television, is impressive red sky by winds of NW from the outback sand.

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  5. I was watching this on the news. What a shame! Hope all is well and that the dust has settled and every one is well.

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  6. I guess it was a little Martian! Good captures, Jim. I like the photo on the right with that strong overhead and the perspective of the tracks. Good reportage of the event.

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  7. Awesome comparison! Glad the sandstorm is over!

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  8. Wow - those photos of during and after the duststorm are incredible. We get duststorms in Saudi Arabia too, and also in Arizona, but not that reddish haze that you get! Great photos!

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  9. Incredible dust. It would be terrible to be breathing that. The cleanup must have been pretty bad also.

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  10. I can't imagine how terrible it must be to live through a dust storm. Great shots.

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  11. Wow quite a sandstorm...those things are hard on camera lenses too..lol.

    Bob
    aka Eaglesbrother

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  12. Beautiful captures but just hope all is well around your place with all those dust.

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  13. Unbelievable what a difference a day can make! The pictures I've received of the dust storm have been phenomenal! These are terrific! Glad everyone is able to breathe again!

    Have a great, dust free weekend!

    Sylvia

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  14. Oh, I saw this from Wil's blog too and that's just a scary time. A big difference indeed. Hope nobody's hurt.

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  15. I've been following this on the news...never saw anything like it...your photos tell the story so well....unbelievable comparison shots...

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  16. Thanks for dropping in :) Great shots, would like to have seen it for myself would have made great photos, the color is so surreal.

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  17. The dust storm is just amazing to me. I have never seen anything like it. What a difference in your photos. Thanks for sharing your incredible photos.

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  18. What a difference a storm makes. This is amazing.

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  19. Wooooooow... That's incredible!
    The before and after shots were quite a contrast!
    Thanks for thinking of all of us out here in skywatch land --- to share this with us...
    Maria

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  20. Wow, that dust storm was impressive. Thanks for the photos to make it more real for us.

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  21. The video of the dust storm on our television news was terrifying. Glad all is well there now.

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  22. Thanks for posting some of the dust storm photos, they are so spectacular and eerie.

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  23. WOW! What an incredible sight! I recall seeing it on the news as well. Glad to see the 'after' images.

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  24. HI Jim, thanks for visiting my blog. Glad I found skywatch. Wow, yes, it amazing how different it is in a day.

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  25. I wondered what the dust storm looked like and here it is! Wonderful for sky watchers, but not so wonderful for those who had to endure it.

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  26. i saw this on a different blog- what a sight@! nice shots-

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  27. Awesome photos J Bar.
    My family down in Shellharbour made the mistake of leaving the windows open. They now have a massive mess to clean up.
    They are predicting another dust storm up here in QLD on the weekend, fun!

    Thanks for all your nice comments.

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  28. It certainly does. 24 hours was all we needed to lift all the topsoil from the inland and dump it on the eastern states and New Zealand!

    Thanks for your visit to my sepia dust tinted photos also!

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  29. Awesome shots!
    I wouldn't have wanted to be traveling in it.

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  30. Oh my gosh, that's astonishing & crazy! I can't believe what I'm seeing. I'm so sorry you all had to endure that, it must have been horrible!

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  31. The before and after shots are great!
    Quite a contrast...

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  32. spectacular snapshots, sorry about the mess...

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  33. Beautiful pictures, but that an environmental problems.
    I hope that iron-rich dust don't bring any long-term effect health.

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  34. That's quite a dramatic difference! The color makes for an unreal scene and I imagine not pleasant to be out in. The dust made our news here.

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  35. If I did not see the dust storm news on the TV, I would think that you photoshoped your picture. It was terrible. Hope the situation will improve soon.

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  36. Great before and after shots. I took some too in Brisbane but I was scared of getting dust in my camera.

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  37. Beautiful shots.
    But it must be scary to be there.

    Have a great weekend

    Gunilla in Sweden

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  38. I am glad you show me that ! I have seen it on TV, but it makes a big difference if you can put somebody "known" behind the pictures ! What a terrible thing ! I have never seen red dust ! must be hard to clean off !

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  39. Of course you had to post about this today! We saw this on the news, but seeing the before and after shots is really interesting. Hope you can all breathe easy now.
    Janice.

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  40. No kidding! What an awesome phenomenon. Scary for some, but certainly put your World into a different light!

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  41. Scary....

    Mine is here:

    http://www.mypreciousniche.com/2009/09/sky-watch-friday.html

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  42. It's like 'Armageddon'! Although it looks incredibly beautiful in red, I hope everyone in Sydney's ok :)

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  43. Wow! Awesome and frightening at the same time :-). Thank´s for sharing.

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  44. Indeed a huge change from one day to another! Amazing captured :)

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  45. What a difference indeed! I just had a chat with my daughter in Cooktown and she told me that they have a kind of smokey grey mist in their area. Her eyes hurts and she has a very dry mouth. The sky is invisible where she lives.

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  46. Very unique captures. Thanks for sharing both views for comparisons.

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  47. I saw this yesterday on the news. Hope you didn't get dust in your camera.

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  48. I saw some shots of your orange dust storm in the news here in the Netherlands.
    Great to see the before and after shots! It must have been strange to wake up in that orange world.
    Enjoy your weekend!

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  49. Nice photos.Its really unbelievable. Hope that everything is fine now.

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  50. Great photos! Thanks for the before & during shots. What a duststorm!

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  51. What an awesome comparison in your iamges!!Iron rich...surely one seeks shelter from this storm!!Surely in this case what a difference a day makes!!

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  52. i saw this in the newspaper headline. it's scary but i have to admit i like the warm glow in the photos.

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  53. The orange color does look eerie and make for very unusual skywatch images! Great to see the before and after comparison.

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  54. The dust storm was mentioned on CBC (Canadian) news so it must have been something, all right!

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  55. Hi J-Bar!
    Thank you for your comment on my blog:)
    By the way I watch this newa on TV last night.
    Is everything all right now?

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  56. Thanks for all the feedback and concern. It's amazing to hear that it made the news bulletins in so many countries around the world. Things are back to normal now but the clean up continues because everything was coated in red dust.

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  57. Wow. Speechless. You confirmed what all of us around the world could easily see. What an unbelievable phenomena. Great to see it's cleared.

    Amazing before and after pix.

    Take care of yourself!

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  58. Only heard dust storms in the desert. That's scary.

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  59. What a phenomenon - it's quite a terrifying sight!

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  60. Oh yes, I heard about it on NPR. Glad you posted this post. How very strange. Nature shows us a different view continually.

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  61. It's amazing how the storm makes quite a humdrum location look completely unearthly!

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  62. Hey, we both had train tracks in our skywatch pics! This is very awesome and amazing that it cleared so nicely. Happy SWF!

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  63. I've never seen anything quite like that. Thanks for the post

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  64. I've never been in a dust storm, but was near a huge fire once that turned the sky that shade of orange. Fascinating comparison photos. Thanks (and I hope your camera survived!)
    http://threeriversdailyphoto.blogspot.com

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  65. I've been in dust storms when I lived in California, but nothing like this!

    Amazing photos!

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  66. Great photos showing the difference, was interested to see how the Sydney Sky Watch gang used the photo opp.

    Hopefully this weekend's storm will not be as bad.

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  67. I thought of you as soon as I heard the news. Thanks for posting such excellent pix.

    I was in a dust storm once in the desert in Afghanistan. It sucked. zero visibility

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  68. Heard about it on TV.
    Interestingto see the wiew in two different shapes

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  69. I love the way it looks, but I'd rather not be in it! Great photos!

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  70. A HUGE difference! Thanks for posting this for others to see.

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  71. How did Sydney hold up today, any more dust? We had some, not quite as bad but no where near as long lasting.
    Now for the clean up!
    Love your before and after images!

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  72. It has been a very windy day in Sydney today, Julie. There was a lot of dust dumped on the city again today but thankfully nowhere near the apocalyptic dust storm we had on Wednesday. The sky was grey this morning from the dust but it cleared up by late morning.

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  73. Such amazing photos! Great captures by you. And that was cool to do the regular shots for comparison also.

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  74. that is amazing, must have been something quite unique to experience in person.

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  75. Your world in orange looks great, but I'm sure it was rather uncomfortable to be in!

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  76. oh wow. what a contrast! the dust storm was pretty out of this world. good thing it didn't happen again yesterday as predicted.


    It's All About What's In Down Under | Permanence in Change | I Am A Shoeaholic | A Juggling Act | Healthy Living | The Life of a Tatapilla

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  77. Wow! What a difference a day makes...no kidding. Amazing. Hopefully, it's all over with and there's not much damage from all that dust...

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  78. That rare phenomenon is what I missed last Wednesday morning because our area seemed to be partly covered and I saw nothing like that here. My daughter who phoned me did witness this unusual sight. I have a spoon of red dust from South Australia sent to me by my friend Simone when she worked in the outback with the Flying Doctors. If I'll find that thing, am going to take a photo of it and post it here in my blog. Did you wear a mask?

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  79. I was unprepared and didn't have a mask to wear but I was careful not to stay outdoors for too long. While I would have liked to have taken a few more photos, for my health's sake it's probably good that I didn't try to.

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  80. Wow, that must have been quite a thing to witness! I'm surprised at how clean the station looks in the pictures from Thursday afternoon - I would guess everything would still be covered in dust at that point! Thanks for stopping by to check out my SWF post. Happy skywatching!

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  81. This is the third dust storm photos I've seen recently and I never knew a dust storm was so orange looking! Great photos...gives such a creepy feel.

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  82. Awesome photos! I was amazed by that storm...it was nuts.

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  83. What a difference a day makes, indeed! I've seen this on the news, but this before and after thing is absolutely amazing!

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  84. Glad to see the dust gone. My family in Queensland too got some dust.

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  85. Impressive.I like the sequel theme here.

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