melbourne, nsw et queensland, ca pelle, c,est inondee et c,est pleins de poussieres.......assez lucky ici dans la western suburb of brisbane,il fait beau et chaud, pas trop inondee et pas de poussiere;
State cloaked in dust cloud
Cameron Atfield and Brian Williams
03feb05
A MASSIVE dust storm which blanketed almost half the state yesterday was so thick it forced a passenger jet to divert, dropped temperatures by up to 15C, and prompted health warnings for asthma sufferers.
The giant cloud, up to 1000km across and driven by wind gusts of up to 80km/h, blew an estimated 4.8 million tonnes of dirt across Queensland.
The state's southwest was hit hard, with visibility down to just 50m in Thargomindah and Windorah.
Weather bureau senior forecaster Jonty Hall said the dust stretched from Birdsville in the southwest to Mount Isa in northwest Queensland.
"It's been produced by a strong cold front that entered the southwest of Queensland (on Tuesday) night and has pushed eastward," he said. "So far it's hit a huge area of the state."
Mr Hall said the bureau expected the dust would reach Brisbane some time early today following a long, narrow "squall line" of thunderstorms that stretched hundreds of kilometres from northern New South Wales to central Queensland.
Mr Hall said the dust expected in Brisbane would not be as severe as the storm that blanketed the city in October 2002.
Griffith University faculty of environmental sciences' Grant McTainsh said visibility over Brisbane today was expected to be about 10km compared with the usual 60km.
Professor McTainsh said dust had arrived at Thargomindah, in the state's southwest, at 4am, and the storm lasted about 10 hours, with visibility down to 50m. The temperature dropped 15C.
"Reports from southwest NSW indicate it's the worst seen since the 1960s, and that was a particularly bad period for dust storms," Professor McTainsh said.
He warned people with respiratory illnesses should be wary about the conditions.
Yesterday's dust caused the cancellation of at least one commercial flight.
A Qantas spokeswoman said the 8.40am Brisbane-to-Mount Isa flight, with 100 passengers on board, had to be diverted to Townsville.
Mount Isa police Sergeant Ben Palmer said visibility in the city yesterday afternoon was about 400m. "We saw it coming at about 9am and thought it was rain, then all of a sudden it just got thicker and thicker," he said.
In Roma, Graham McKnight saw the dust cloud approach about 2.45pm and within 30 minutes, a dust cloud had enveloped the town. "It looked kind of eerie, a huge reddish cloud and quite dark, and above it was the cumulous clouds and a normal sky," he said.
About 350km east of Birdsville at Windorah, 68-year-old Gladys Cross said visibility had been so bad it had been almost impossible to see across the road.
Dust storms usually occur during severe drought periods, and were frequent during extended dry periods in the 1930s, '40s and '60s.
Today, a dust haze should settle over much of coastal Queensland, including the southeast, although any storms should contract to the far north early in the day.
Brisbane and Ipswich should reach a high of 34C, with cooler temperatures across the Queensland interior.
Connexion
Inscription
FAQ
Rechercher
)
