A storm on the road

A sunspot on the road as the sky darkens. There is rain in the distance.

A couple of weeks back we took friends Mark and Janene up to Mt Isa to catch their plane back to Sydney. We had been keeping a close eye on the weather because rain had been predicted that afternoon, and we didn't want to get caught on the road back to Birdsville. What did catch us was most unexpected — a dust storm associated with the storm cell, basically a mini hurricane.

The wind picks up, with sand gusting across the road.


And then we see a very ominous red dust cloud in the distance.


A very large dust cloud. This is the far end of it


And getting closer all the time.


Then it hits us.


We crawled along with minimal visibility for about 15 minutes.


Finally we come out of the dust.


And find we have missed the rain behind it.


About an inch fell — none of it on Birdsville, although this was the rain that cut the Windorah road directly before the Birdsville Races.