The massive dust-storms that has been described with many phrases including, "eerie," "bizarre," "surreal," and "martian." This video (HT) shows how quickly it went from a Mars-like orange to total blackness all in a a matter of seconds. The woman's "oh my gosh" captures my feelings on watching the video:
The Boston Globe has a fantastic collection of photos from this freakish dust storm. Reuters has an interesting colelction of Q/A related to the dust storm. Excerpt:
IS THE DUST STORM LINKED TO CLIMATE CHANGE?
Weather scientists are reluctant to directly link climate change with extreme weather events such as storms and droughts, saying these fluctuate according to atmospheric conditions, but green groups link the two in their calls for action to fight climate change.
Dust storms in Australia, the world's driest inhabited continent with a vast desert-like outback interior, are not uncommon. Central and eastern Australia is a major global source of atmospheric dust, say weather experts. But dust storms are usually restricted to the inland of Australia. Occasionally, during widespread drought they can affect coastal areas. Australia is battling one of its worst droughts and weather officials say an El Nino is slowly developing in the Pacific which will mean drier conditions for Australia's eastern states.
Before the Sydney dust storm, one of the most spectacular storms swept across Melbourne in February 1983, late in the severe El Nino drought of 1982/83. The extended dry period of the 1930s and 1940s generated many severe dust storms, culminating in the summer of 1944/45 when on several occasions dust in Adelaide was so thick that street lighting had to be turned on.
No comments:
Post a Comment