It wasn’t as bad as that day, almost a decade ago, when Wollongong woke to a thick red, dusty haze – but a bit of the bush did make its presence known in the city on Thursday morning.
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A dust cloud – of dry topsoil lifted from parched parts of inland NSW – blew in from the west about 8.30am; a visible reminder of the drought conditions that continue to grip much of the state.
The dust, which lingered for a couple of hours, was driven by strong winds linked to a deep low pressure system in Victoria.
The system whipped up dirt from drought-stricken western parts of the state and pushed it across the state, over the ACT and into broad areas of eastern NSW.
“This is the typical time of year for dust storms through inland Australia, but it is quite rare for dust to reach the east coast,” Adam Morgan, from the Bureau of Meteorology, said.
“In recent times, the dust storm most people along the east coast would remember is the ‘red dawn’ dust storm in September, 2009.”
On that occasion, the Illawarra woke to a thick red haze unlike anything seen in recent history.
Cars were caked with dirt, houses and footpaths tinged in red, and backyard pools filled with mud as the storm reduced visibility to just 500 metres in some areas.
Air conditions were 35 times worse than during a bushfire.
Thursday’s dusty conditions resulted in “poor” air quality levels being recorded across the Illawarra and prompted warnings for people with respiratory issues.
However, the air quality was worse elsewhere across the state, reaching “hazardous” in parts of Sydney, the Hunter and Central Coast.
Thursday’s dust cloud followed a band of rain, which moved across the region from about 7am.
The line of showers delivered little in the way of rainfall – 1.6mm at Albion Park and 0.4mm in Bellambi – but did ensure the dirt left dusty marks on windows and car windscreens.
Windy conditions – associated with the low that brought the dust – were felt on Thursday afternoon.
A 91km/h wind gust was recorded at Albion Park just before 1.30pm on Thursday, while a 70km/h gust was felt in Bellambi at 12.22pm.
The bureau has issued a severe weather warning for damaging northwest to southwest winds across the Illawarra and South Coast on Friday.
The low was expected to deepen over the southwest Tasman Sea, resulting in an intensification of winds over southeastern parts of NSW during Friday morning.
Damaging winds, averaging 60 to 70km/h with peak gusts in excess of 90km/h, are possible from Friday morning for the South Coast and Illawarra.
Winds are expected to ease by Saturday morning as the low moves further away.