Massive dust storm engulfs NSW farmland and homes
When a once-in-a-lifetime dust storm engulfed farmer Dean Hague’s ute on New Year’s Eve, it was so dark he couldn’t see his three little kids in the back seat. WATCH THE VIDEO.
When a once-in-a-lifetime dust storm engulfed farmer Dean Hague’s ute on New Year’s Eve, it was so dark he couldn’t see his three little kids in the back seat.
Rainfall totals for the past two years across large swathes of prime NSW farmland have ranked among the worst 10 per cent on record, which has seen loose soil from baked and barren paddocks whipped up by gale force winds.
“My three little kids, Sunny, 4, Riva, 3, and Willo, 1, were in the car with me on the way into town for New Year’s Eve and when I turned around to check on them, I couldn’t even see them,” Mr Hague said.
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“The kids were convinced it was suddenly night time and I had to turn my headlights on to prove to them it was dust blowing across that was blocking out the sun.”
Two-hundred kilometres north near Nyngan in the state’s central west, the same wall of dust blacked out the night sky, fooling eight-year-old Summer Trepess into thinking nightfall had descended three hours early.
Summer, her dad Rob Trepess and his wife Katie McKid, were on their way to a new year celebration of their own when they pulled their car over to pose in photos with a dust storm the likes of which they’d never seen.
“I was born in Nyngan, my family has lived here their whole lives and my grandparents before them,” Ms McKid said.
“I’ve always heard stories about dust storms like that, from my parents and grandparents, but I’ve never seen anything quite like it.”
In hindsight, Ms McKid wished they’d turned the car around and sped home to lock all the doors and windows, as the inside of her house was coated in three millimetres of dust, which took all New Year’s Day to clean up.
“The back door blew open and red dust went everywhere, making the house look like it had been deserted,” she said.
Intense drought still grips 28.5 per cent of the state, with a further 49.9 per cent declared drought-ravaged and only 0.2 per cent of the state north of Newcastle is drought-free.
Sky News Weather Chief Meteorologist Tom Saunders, who in October told The Sunday Telegraph huge dust storms loomed on the horizon throughout summer, has repeated his warning severe storms have the potential to cloak Sydney in blankets of dust.
The dust storm that swallowed central NSW on New Year’s Eve was whipped up by a thunderstorm, which would not be large enough to carry dust over the Blue Mountains, according to Mr Saunders.
To turn Sydney an eerie red, which last happened in 2009, a widespread belt of gale force winds would need to carry dust and soil hundreds of kilometres from the outback.
“Massive amounts of top soil would need to come from far western NSW and norther South Australia, which is what happened in 2009.”
Dust storms typically require minimum 30km/h winds, dry soil and an unstable atmosphere such as a strong cold front, thunderstorm or very hot ground; otherwise the dust just blows around close the ground.
Dust storms also need a very dry atmosphere for the dust to stay aloft and travel, because any moisture will condense on the dust particles to form clouds, rain, hail or even snow, or the dust particles will clump together and fall to the ground.
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