A Snow Day on Mars

Early this morning, we were awakened by the girls tiptoeing into our room to say that they HAD to show us something. Anyone who has ever had young children can relate to our initial reaction, which was that this was something that could certainly wait until the alarm went off. But they persisted, exclaiming “it’s all ORANGE outside!” They pointed out the window to show that, indeed, everything outside was glowing orange. No birds singing either- just the sound of the wind rattling the windows. It was incredibly surreal and eerie.

A dust storm had descended on Sydney overnight. This is a very unusual occurrence, as dust storms usually only occur inland. Apparently, sediment washed out of recently flooded rivers in the outback in southwest Queensland was picked up by severe winds blowing through that area, and carried almost 1500 miles to Sydney. As the sun had risen, the sky was first crimson and then orange. By 7:15 or so, once the sun was higher in the sky, it was a thick gray haze that reduced visibility so severely that they halted ferry services on the Harbour and suspended air traffic.

Rick described the feel of the morning as “a snow day on Mars”. We have often commented that the kids don’t get to experience snow days here in Sydney- there are no weather conditions that prevent school from opening that we are aware of, except, perhaps if a bushfire is nearby. But this morning had that ghostly, silent feeling of the early morning of a snow day, where you awake to find that the world outside your window has been transformed overnight. Schools were open, but school events and excursions were cancelled because of the concerns regarding air pollution levels that were nearly 1500 times their normal levels. Erin was incredibly disappointed that her ride to a neighboring city on the train with her school choir was cancelled because of the dust. The girls reported that they stayed in their classrooms all day with the doors and windows shut until the dust cleared at about 1pm, heading north to Brisbane to wreak havoc up there.

Sadly, I did not think to take pictures of the early morning glow (actually, it would be more accurate to say that I thought about it and then felt too uninspired in my pre-coffee confusion). However, news sources have posted some amazing pictures on the web, like this one of the Harbour Bridge:

More pictures can be found here: http://www.smh.com.au/photogallery/environment/dust-turns-sydney-sky-red/20090923-g0tw.html?selectedImage=5.

I do wish that I had possessed the foresight to take the laundry off the line last night, and put the car in the garage. There is a fine red dust on everything! Our car looks like it has spent a week travelling through the outback, which is, ironically, something we are hoping to do in about a week and a 1/2 during the girls’ school holidays. And, perhaps, that is where you will next hear from us on this blog….


Love, Anne