Air quality warnings were issued.
Sydneysiders and Central Coast residents woke up to a red hazy sky yesterday after strong gusts blew a large blanket of dust from the states south-west into the region.
The storm caused a rosy red sheet of dust to settle around the clouds creating visibility issues in some parts of the region, and severe air quality worries in others.
Image: Twitter/@sidneiensis
According to the Office of Environment and Heritage, some parts of the region were issued with hazardous air quality warnings, with residents in areas like Illawarra warned to stay indoors as much as possible.
Some areas of Sydney recorded an air quality reading of 196 during the storm, while the Central Coast and Hunter regions saw levels between 78 and 102. A normal air quality reading sits between 34 and 66.
Image: Twitter/@raejada
According to reports, the massive dust storm could stretch as long as 2300 kilometres and could continue to grow.
Weatherzone meteorologist Brett Dutschke confirmed that the storm covers well over 1000km of land in Australia, and continues out to sea.
“It’s still over 1300 kilometres long over land, and it does go at least another 1000 kilometres off the coast,” he stated.
Some reports suggest that the monster storm could sweep through the rest of NSW and continue into Queensland.
SEE ALSO: Water restrictions immiment on the Central Coast – click here to read.
Written by Kate Stevens
Images: BOM/Twitter
