'Red Wave' Dust Storm Hits Australia

[SirDeadly]

Who's got time for a dust storm when the cricket is on?

 

[Shinsei-J]

No no! It should be 'whatever'! It should be 'Oh? Well, we've had bigger.' Show your Australian superiority to the rest of us worlders.

As Australians we don't flaunt our superiority, because something like this only deserves apathy from us

My reaction to this is a general "meh, another summer".

 

[General Twinkletoes]

I've only seen one where I live, and that was a few years ago. But that was a fun day. I woke up, looked out the window and suddenly it looked like I was on mars.

 

[welker_83]

its nothing compered to absolutely ridicules heat we have at the moment
also this ist the first time this has happened in recent years

 

[shrekfan246]

I don't care what any Australian says about how "safe" their country is, I'm not going to believe them. Ever.

I'm just going to stay here in Vermont, where all I have to worry about is a bunch of snow and the occasional ice storm.

Oh, it's perfectly safe. Just so long as you don't go outside when it's 40+ degrees, walk around bare foot, interact with any of the wildlife, go to the 'outback', eat anything, drink anything, breathe...

Sit down without looking, use the toilet without checking, put your feet into shoes without checking, reach into or pick up boxes without checking, leave windows open (especially overnight), go swimming...

Yeah, I'm pretty happy with where I live right now.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Sorry to spoil the mystique, but tourists are more likely to die from exposure after abandoning a broken down vehicle than be killed by something that will look impressive when carved on a tombstone. Most of our bushland looks like somebody went overboard with the clone tool when placing eucalyptus trees that want to be set on fire. And if you're stuck in the middle of nowhere with only the side of your car for protection from the sun, there is absolutely no guarantee that if you walk in any particular direction that you will find anything other than heat stroke and eventual death.

Well, to be fair, there's always the odd tourist that goes swimming in an area with lots of signs saying "Don't go swimming here, crocodiles will eat you".

Mind you, abandoning your vehicle in the middle of nowhere because you've got no supplies, no communication and you've told nobody where you were going isn't much less stupid.

 

[Paradoxrifts]

Sorry to spoil the mystique, but tourists are more likely to die from exposure after abandoning a broken down vehicle than be killed by something that will look impressive when carved on a tombstone. Most of our bushland looks like somebody went overboard with the clone tool when placing eucalyptus trees that want to be set on fire. And if you're stuck in the middle of nowhere with only the side of your car for protection from the sun, there is absolutely no guarantee that if you walk in any particular direction that you will find anything other than heat stroke and eventual death.

Well, to be fair, there's always the odd tourist that goes swimming in an area with lots of signs saying "Don't go swimming here, crocodiles will eat you".

Mind you, abandoning your vehicle in the middle of nowhere because you've got no supplies, no communication and you've told nobody where you were going isn't much less stupid.

Wikipedia disagrees [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crocodile_attack] with your assessment of the facts. According to it the last five people to be snatched by crocodiles in Australia weren't tourists, but Australians. Although it is true that tourists are well-overrepresented on a list of fatalities [http://www.smh.com.au/national/recent-crocodile-deaths-in-australia-20090411-a3b2.html] that I dug out of the Wikipedia sources footnotes.

It is well past time to reintroduce commercial crocodile harvesting.

 

[Dr.Susse]

I remember the one back in 2009.
It was crazy every thing was orange when we woke up.

And then the photoshops happened.

Also was I the only one who thought the picture of the storm and the cloud looked like a wall of Beer? A tasty tasty wall of beer......

 

[njrk97]

Sorry to spoil the mystique, but tourists are more likely to die from exposure

Yes that's right folks, forget the deadly deadly wildlife and harsh unforgiving conditions, simply being exposed to Australia (or a strong source of Australian-ness) WILL kill you.

 

[Dwarfman]

I guess it's not leathal?
Either way gee, no offence but you Austrilian can't catch a break. First there is that bushfire still going on and now this.

Yeah about those bushfires... So according to the Courier Mail the amount of land in Queensland, New South Wales and Tasmania that is currently affected by bushfires is equal to roughly half of Europe. It's a pretty hot summer this year.

 

[Thaluikhain]

I guess it's not leathal?
Either way gee, no offence but you Austrilian can't catch a break. First there is that bushfire still going on and now this.

Yeah about those bushfires... So according to the Courier Mail the amount of land in Queensland, New South Wales and Tasmania that is currently affected by bushfires is equal to roughly half of Europe. It's a pretty hot summer this year.

Well, that is more or less what happens every year, though.

 

[lechat]

Spoiler

I guess it's not leathal?
Either way gee, no offence but you Austrilian can't catch a break. First there is that bushfire still going on and now this.

Yeah about those bushfires... So according to the Courier Mail the amount of land in Queensland, New South Wales and Tasmania that is currently affected by bushfires is equal to roughly half of Europe. It's a pretty hot summer this year.

Well, that is more or less what happens every year, though.

also want to add that a large portion of our plant life actually thrives and reproduces using fire

Eucalypt litter is coarse and decays slowly, ensuring that after several years there will be an abundant build-up to carry the next fire.
The bark of many species is flammable and loosely attached to the trees, making ideal firebrands to carry fire across natural barriers.
The green leaves contain highly flammable oils and resins that act as a catalyst to promote combustion before the leaves are fully dry.

seriously australia is so fucking hardcore that even our plants are like "fire. yeah whatever"
not only is every second animal in australia out to kill you but the trees themselves do everything in their power to get set on fire and kill ppl

the only reason australia isn't burnt to the ground every year or 2 is because we constantly have ppl going out and safely burning areas to limit the risk

 

[Sexy Devil]

I hope the local farmers checked to make sure that their Buggalo were still there.

 

[VanQ]

I don't care what any Australian says about how "safe" their country is, I'm not going to believe them. Ever.

I'm just going to stay here in Vermont, where all I have to worry about is a bunch of snow and the occasional ice storm.

Oh, it's perfectly safe. Just so long as you don't go outside when it's 40+ degrees, walk around bare foot, interact with any of the wildlife, go to the 'outback', eat anything, drink anything, breathe...

Sit down without looking, use the toilet without checking, put your feet into shoes without checking, reach into or pick up boxes without checking, leave windows open (especially overnight), go swimming...

Yeah, I'm pretty happy with where I live right now.

To be fair we have reinforced screens here to prevent anything nasty from coming inside. It would kinda suck to be in the middle of this 40 degree heatwave and not be able to open the windows since I'm not fond of aircon. I do keep the one window without a screen closed however.

And checking shoes for spiders becomes a normal habit after the first close call.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

the only reason australia isn't burnt to the ground every year or 2 is because we constantly have ppl going out and safely burning areas to limit the risk

That and it's really hard to burn desert... except for the parts where kerosene bushes grow, they burn REAL well.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

And checking shoes for spiders becomes a normal habit after the first close call.

Of course Real Australian Men just jam their feet in their boots hard enough to kill whatever's in there (hence the finger loops and elastic sides on work boots). You shake out any remains during morning smoko.

 

[Thaluikhain]

seriously australia is so fucking hardcore that even our plants are like "fire. yeah whatever"
not only is every second animal in australia out to kill you but the trees themselves do everything in their power to get set on fire and kill ppl

the only reason australia isn't burnt to the ground every year or 2 is because we constantly have ppl going out and safely burning areas to limit the risk

Except when the Greens get their way and stop it for environmental reasons.

 

[shrekfan246]

I don't care what any Australian says about how "safe" their country is, I'm not going to believe them. Ever.

I'm just going to stay here in Vermont, where all I have to worry about is a bunch of snow and the occasional ice storm.

Oh, it's perfectly safe. Just so long as you don't go outside when it's 40+ degrees, walk around bare foot, interact with any of the wildlife, go to the 'outback', eat anything, drink anything, breathe...

Sit down without looking, use the toilet without checking, put your feet into shoes without checking, reach into or pick up boxes without checking, leave windows open (especially overnight), go swimming...

Yeah, I'm pretty happy with where I live right now.

To be fair we have reinforced screens here to prevent anything nasty from coming inside. It would kinda suck to be in the middle of this 40 degree heatwave and not be able to open the windows since I'm not fond of aircon. I do keep the one window without a screen closed however.

And checking shoes for spiders becomes a normal habit after the first close call.

C'mon, man... you just rationalized leaving your windows open.

Like, there are screens over the windows around here too, but that's just because I'd rather keep more flies and mosquitoes outside than inside, not because I need to keep out some spider with a seven inch legspan that can probably crawl under the little space between the bottom of my door and the floor anyway.

And I don't have to check my shoes before I put them on. I like that I don't have to check my shoes before I put them on. XD

 

[Paradoxrifts]

Sorry to spoil the mystique, but tourists are more likely to die from exposure

Yes that's right folks, forget the deadly deadly wildlife and harsh unforgiving conditions, simply being exposed to Australia (or a strong source of Australian-ness) WILL kill you.

Hardly anyone gets taken by man-eating sharks [http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/journal/shark-attacks-in-australia-timeline.htm] either.

Like, there are screens over the windows around here too, but that's just because I'd rather keep more flies and mosquitoes outside than inside, not because I need to keep out some spider with a seven inch legspan that can probably crawl under the little space between the bottom of my door and the floor anyway.

And I don't have to check my shoes before I put them on. I like that I don't have to check my shoes before I put them on. XD

There is no little space between the bottom of the door and floor on any of my doors leading to the outside, but I live in a nice, safe lower middle-class house.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

What are you people talking about?! Don't you see what I see? Obviously Mars has grown tired waiting for us to visit and decided to bring some of the party to us! Obviously Mars has chosen the fine people of Australia to be the first inhabitants.

In all seriousness that does look intimidating.