An eerie glow turned day into something out of a disaster film along parts of Western Australia as a powerful storm system approached, leaving residents staring up at deep red and orange skies.
According to the New York Post, the unsettling scene unfolded as Tropical Cyclone Narelle moved toward the coastline, kicking up dust and dramatically altering the color of the sky.
“Incredibly eerie outside, and everything is covered in dust. Not a lot of wind yet,” Shark Bay Caravan Park wrote in a Facebook post Friday, sharing footage of the phenomenon.
In other nearby areas, the sky took on a softer but still unusual orange tint, as swirling dust clouds filtered the sunlight rather than completely overwhelming it.
Meteorologists say the effect can be explained by how light travels through the atmosphere.
According to the FOX Forecast Center, different colors of light scatter in different ways depending on atmospheric conditions.
Shorter wavelengths like blue are more easily scattered, especially when sunlight passes through thicker layers of the atmosphere during sunrise or sunset. In contrast, longer wavelengths—such as red, orange, and pink—tend to remain more visible.
As the cyclone churned offshore, strong winds reportedly lifted iron-rich soil into the air. That dust, combined with filtered sunlight, acted almost like a lens—blocking out most colors while allowing deep reds to dominate the sky.
The result was a landscape bathed in an ominous, almost surreal glow that many described as “apocalyptic.”
By Sunday, however, the spectacle had faded.
The same caravan park shared an update showing clear blue skies had returned to the region.
“What a difference 48 hours makes. We are still clearing dust from everywhere,” the park wrote.
While the visual impact was short-lived, the images offered a striking reminder of how powerful weather systems like Cyclone Narelle can transform the environment in unexpected ways.
