Red sky seen in WA ahead of Cyclone Narelle makes global headlines

 

Red sky seen in WA ahead of Cyclone Narelle makes global headlines

By weather reporter Tyne Logan

Topic:Weather Phenomena




WA's north turned dark red as Tropical Cyclone Narelle approached the coast. (Facebook: Shark Bay News & Views/Jayson Campbell)


Scenes of an eerie, blood-red sky cast over the Western Australian landscape ahead of Tropical Cyclone Narelle have made worldwide news.

As the cyclone made its way to the West Australian coast on Friday, residents of Shark Bay — about 500 kilometres south of Exmouth, where the cyclone made landfall — saw an apocalyptic-like scene, as the thick dust coated the air.

Kerrie Shepherd, from the Shark Bay Caravan Park, said she had never seen anything like it.

"The skies just kept getting more and more orange as the afternoon went on and then, at about 3:30pm, we went outside and it was that colour," she said.

"It was red all the way along, everywhere we looked.

"It got into your throat and into your mouth. It was crunchy and gritty in your teeth, even in your eyes."

A dust storm stirred by up Cyclone Narelle moved through Shark Bay.
What caused the red sky?

Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Angus Hines said the dark red sky was caused by two main factors.

The first was the landscape. Northern WA is famous for its red dirt, owing to the iron-rich soil, which has rusted over millions of years.

Wind stirred up the southern Pilbara's dry landscape, sending clouds of dust into the Gascoyne region as far south as Carnarvon.

"It's certainly the most striking example of that phenomenon that I've ever seen," Mr Hines said.



Red sky in Shark Bay ahead of Cyclone Narelle

"It's a very red part of the country, it's got that rusty hue, so you get that colour getting whipped up with the strong winds … both locally and from northern WA as a whole."

The second factor, he said, was the cloud cover.

The Pilbara and Gascoyne often experience impressive dust storms. But they are usually under blue skies.

This time, however, it coincided with a sky thick with clouds, which Mr Hines said would have blocked out the light, giving it a more "even" and gloomy feeling.

"It's a pretty dry part of the country, so any time you get those strong winds, you are whipping up that dust into the atmosphere," he said.

"But [direct sunlight] would usually penetrate through whatever is in the atmosphere a bit more effectively and make it not look so dark red.

"When you've got the thick cloud cover, the light doesn't feel like it's coming from a single source.

"It feels like the light is evenly illuminating the ground, like a panel of lighting as opposed to one bright spotlight."



Apocalyptic skies were seen in Shark Bay ahead of the cyclone.

The event lasted for several hours, according to locals, beginning about midday.

But Ms Shepherd said it was over as soon as the wind picked up in town.

"It was strange," she said.

"It was that colour, and then the wind started to pick up from the cyclone, and then the rain came, and it cleared within half an hour. It was light again."

Images of the apocalyptic scenes made headlines in major news outlets across the world.

The New York Times, CNN, the Washington Post, The Sun in the UK, as well as countless others, ran stories featuring images of the blood-red sky.

The red dirt was washed off by Cyclone Narelle. (Supplied: Shark Bay Coastal Tours)

The apocalyptic scenes made news headlines worldwide. (Supplied: Perth Weather Live)

The streets of Denham turned red on Friday. (Facebook: Mikayla Cooper)
Cyclone Narelle's path of destruction

Shark Bay managed to avoid the worst impacts from the cyclone.

But it made its mark elsewhere.

Cyclone Narelle tore through Hill Springs Station in the Gascoyne. (Supplied: Brett Hopkinson)

Cyclone Narelle damaged cabins around the Gnaraloo Station homestead. (ABC News: Andrew Chounding)

The cyclone left a trail of destruction in Exmouth, where it made landfall.

Roofs were torn from several buildings, the town's marina was badly damaged, and the local airport was "obliterated".

Exmouth was one of the places worst impacted by Cyclone Narelle. (Supplied: Brock Keymer)

Even a supposedly cyclone-proof evacuation centre, where about 40 people were sheltering on Thursday night, had part of its roof peeled back.

Further south, in Carnarvon, fruit and vegetable producers were counting the cost of the storm, with one banana grower reporting more than 80 per cent of his crop destroyed.

Thirty pastoral properties are reported to have been extensively damaged.

A lengthy clean-up is underway, with WA Premier Roger Cook announcing one-off payments of $2,000 for major home damage and up to $4,000 for those whose homes have been destroyed.

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