Red sky in morning, er....dust storm!

We had our storm last night, thunder, lightning and rain. And wind. There have been strong winds all over NSW, blowing dust from the red centre to the coast. I woke at 5.30 this morning to run a breakfast meeting and the light outside was apocalyptic - a curious, otherworldly orange. The sun was rising but you couldn't see it, the dust was so thick. After my shower I took this first pic at 6am. The second photo was taken at the golf course where my breakfast was being held. This was around 7am and there was still a strange dusty tint to the air.

It's worrying for anyone with asthma or other breathing difficulties. Even inside our house with the windows shut you can still taste dust. It's 11.15am now and the wind is still blowing steadily, swirling the red dust around our city skies. The sun is a faint white disc trying bravely to shine though the amazing haze.

My car, which is usually white with a dusting of leaves and a cobweb on the left hand wing mirror, has been restyled in orange.

One of my friends just rang me to tell me a guy down her street was hosing his car off. In the middle of the dust storm. I ask you -!!! What kind of idiots are there out there? Firstly we have water restrictions here that don't allow you to wash your car with a hose between the hours of 10 am and 4pm, secondly it's only going to get filthy again - even filthier in fact as the dust will stick to the wet car. And she said another guy was hosing the dust from the tiles on his roof. Some people have no sense of the environment. Some people have no sense!