I remember it well. Thank you for starting a thread.
I was working in Brisbane that day and at lunch time it was getting thicker and there were a few enterprising kids were being escorted out of Queen Street mall by security, because somehow they had got hold of a load of face masks and they were selling them in the Mall for $1 each. Young enterprise at its best.

I got home back to Cabo and it was much thicker and I had left the doors open and the fly screens shut and there was dust all inside the house. Even the cat had red feet and there were cat foot prints all over the floor. Sadly I never took any photographs that day.

Posted be Ken in the day to day thread, but copied here....

What happened to all that dust that covered the East Coast from the SEQ, NSW and Victoria. Remeber that there was also very strong wind gusts with that system. And how much dust did we approximately loose.

Another interesting point was the danger of the dust.

Here is an article that will help to answer the question.

The report by Geoff Chambers states:

The dirt shifted across NSW, north to the Gold Coast and as far afield as the southern alps in New Zealand.

CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research expert Dr Ross Mitchell said around 16 million tonnes of dust could have been whipped up by the dust storm.

He based that on detailed calcuations of a similar event in October 2003.

Dr Mitchell said the Birdsville weather station recorded its lowest visibility figure at the peak of the stormfront.

"The main source region is the Lake Eyre basin, where there has been quite a bit of deposition of fine material after the recent floods," said Dr Mitchell.

"That available material has been blown out. It's not uncommon to see a dust storm in that region but it is unusual to see it traverse the continent."

Monash University head of environmental science Professor Nigel Tapper said he would be interested to see whether the Heron Island weather station, run by his institution, recorded a dust level.

"It's a remarkable event, which started in the basin," said Prof Tapper.

"There were two storm fronts, one that pushed through Victoria and ended up in New Zealand, where the southern alps will be covered in dust and the other that moved east and north to the Gold Coast."

Both Dr Mitchell and Prof Tapper said climate change may have contributed to the freak weather event.

Griffith University DustWatch head Dr Craig Strong said the dust bomb had been building for 10 months on the back of floods, drought and strong winds.

Greg Roberts from News .com reads in part:

A TEAM of Australian scientists are analysing the dust that has engulfed eastern Australia this week to see whether it is dangerous.

The dust storm is believed to have originated around Woomera in outback South Australia near the massive Olympic Dam uranium mine, prompting fears it was radioactive and dangerous.

Climatologist Professor Nigel Tapper, from Melbourne's Monash University, played down the risks to humans but said the dust might threaten important eco-systems such as the Great Barrier Reef.

"Certainly the dust storm could have potentially come from those outback areas, we believe it has mainly come from dry lake and creek beds and elsewhere in the Lake Eyre basin," he said.

"That (radioactive) stuff has been spread around over a long time so I would not have thought there would be much of an issue around that.

"The main concern is over fine dust that goes right into the lungs triggering asthma and other respiratory problems."

Edited by user Tuesday, 24 September 2019 8:35:09 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

What an outstanding documentation of this amazing event. A good National geographic article.
Thanks

I will assist with adding a Wikipedia link

https://en.m.wikipedia.o...09_Australian_dust_storm

Surfers paradise on the day