Weird Weather

We have been having unusual weather here.  Very hot days sometimes, and now this week some other extremes.  On Sunday we had a short hailstorm.

(the tarpaulin was being left out to dry - oops!)

The hail was a relief, as for the previous 24hours we had our lungs filled with bushfire smoke from the local hazard reduction burning.  On Saturday as we drove home from the train party the sun was a huge pink-red ball in the sky.

And this morning I woke at 5.45 to hear strong gusts of wind and to see a strange glow through the curtains.

Turns out we are experiencing a blanket of red dust over the city.  Unheard of.  Although occasionally in the last few years we have woken to find a layer of red dust fallen onto the car overnight.  Noone knows how long it will last, because it hasn't really happened before. The sun through the red dust is strangely white.

I took this photo in my half-asleep state, through the window, but it didn't really capture the bright orange surrounding us.  Click here to see photos of Sydney coated red.

What next?