On 23 September, a huge dust storm from Central Australia covered a big part of New South Wales and Queensland. Apparently, it crossed the Tasman and ended up in New Zealand. It was so dusty at Morvenvale, I didn’t get the camera out till after the storm. Here is a pic from the MODIS satellite AQUA . Click for the Bigger pic at MODIS
Our soils are all grey clays – not red as in this pic. The wheel tracks take it halfwayback to grey.
Chickpeas can’t escape the dust. They were green…..
There has been no real damage to machinery or crops – just a big cleanup to house and sheds. Oh – and the pool is a funny colour!
Walgett District Agronomist Myles Parker adds in his local newsletter:
“It is interesting to estimate how much soil ended up on our paddocks. When you spread gypsum or lime at 2.5 t/ha you end up with a similar effect. So it would be a fair estimate that 1-2 tonnes of red topsoil landed on our paddocks, especially because they were in crop and would have trapped more dust than bare soil.”