Aussie Red heading our way?

www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cf...=2&objectid=10599147

Freaky photos in today's papers re the red dust blowing from the outback into Sydney and southern Queensland, resulting in planes being turned back to NZ and health warnings. Considering that we seem to get the smoke and particulates from big forest fires, not inconceivable that we'd get some of this dust storm also.

Poor blighters, they seem to have been hit by one thing after another!

My twin lives in Sydney and everytime there are bush fires etc I freak out and ring her to make sure they are OK. she just laughs - being in the Northern area of Sydney but seriously, if there was a fire up her way they would get fried. Surrounded by Gum Trees and a Wooden house. Will ring her later about the big Red and see how they are doing. I expect it will be another laugh - I hope so!

I can't believe that people were still jogging in it - and then being admitted to hospital with breathing problems - duh! :rolleyes:

I'm just thinking about the maintenance of air con units and similar that will be required. Not to mention those with cars with air cooled engines like VWs!

Basically, anything that relies on air is going to have problems, and anything with an engine, motor, fan or filter is going to have to be cleaned out when this lot passes. Cars, aircon, computers, lungs....

Not to mention the layer of red dust over EVERYTHING. At least it's only desert sand type dust, so it's not as corrosive as volcanic ash, but still going to cause havoc all over the place. How are plants going to fare in this? Grass? Or are they hoping for rain to wash it all off? On second thoughts, wasn't it the drought that caused this dust to be dry enough to fly??

We've got a heavy rain warning out (so what else is new?) so hopefully it will have been washed out of the air before it gets here. Could make for some impressive sunsets, apparently.

If the dust doesn't make it this far, we may see the results in the sunset..... if the sun shows up. Piddled down today...seemed to hiss down wherever I had to make a trip to or from the goat shelter.

In the UK they get dust blowing in from the Gobi desert or somewhere, a fair stretch away but still.... it gets there.

I guess if the red stuff does make it this far and it's still raining, we may get red sediment like when there is sulphur in the air and it leaves yellow rings where the water has evaporated.

I don't get some of these fit freaks.... no I'm not talking about all those who people who jog, I'm talking about the numpties like them in Chch who ran through Hagley Park in the mornings "health, health, health, darling" and yet they were breathing in all that smog and car fumes..... "wheeze, cough, cough" and they thought the rest of the population needed to get out amongst it..... ok, ok, so maybe if everyone ran, there wouldn't have been the smog and stuff but that wasn't the point, they ran through all that rubbish regardless. Fancy jogging in a dust storm! What do they expect? If they had to work in those conditions, they'd probably have Aussie OSH in to get serious with the bosses and claim damages etc. Ptah! Silly Sods!

Wouldn't it have been healthier to stay at home and drink wheat grass tea or something?

Yakut