That’s not some post-apocalyptic wasteland or a nightmare scenario come to life, that’s Australia.  Specifically, it’s beautiful Sydney, Australia, circa yesterday.  It’s hard to believe, but that harsh red sky is actually a signifier of a freakishly large dust storm that ravaged New South Wales and Queensland.  While Australia is no stranger to dust storms sweeping in from the Outback, the unusually hot weather and a decades-long drought combined to produce a record-breaking storm the likes of which hasn’t been seen in the Land Down Under since 1942.  You can see the effects of the storm in a great photo gallery, complete with some before-and-after shots.

It’s like a totally different world, isn’t it?  Looking at those images, you’d think the storm was fierce enough to have cost lives, but remarkably, no one was seriously hurt.  There’s a lot of dust to sweep up, with millions of dollars in damage and lost work time to go with it, but it should have been a lot worse given the storm was over 930 miles long!

Tags: Sydney, Australia, dust storm, unusual images, weird weather, nature photography, record dust storm, Australian dust storm, natural disasters, New South Wales, Queensland

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