Dust-storms

The great "dust-up" of November1902

“Darkness at noon” - The Summer of 1944/45

The Melbourne dust-storm of February 1983

Dust-storms are for the most part restricted to the drier inland areas of Australia, but occasionally, during widespread drought, they can affect coastal districts. The figure below shows the average distribution of dust-storms over Australia. One of the most spectacular examples was the storm that swept across Melbourne in February 1983, late in the severe El Niño drought of 1982/83. The extended dry period of the 1930s and 1940s generated many severe dust-storms, culminating in the summer of 1944/45 when on several occasions dust in Adelaide was so thick that street lighting had to be turned on. But uncomfortable as dust-storms may be for town and city dwellers, by far their worst effect is the stripping of topsoil from Australia's arable land.

"Estimated frequency of dust-storms over Australia (from Middleton, N.J.,
Dust-storms in Australia: frequency, distribution and seasonality.
Search, 15, p 46, 1984)"

Go to top

cyclone | storm | drought | flip side | flood | temperature | fire