Mt Isa, Queensland

Mt Isa ia a mining town in north-western Queensland. Before the weather started to change sometime in the 1970s it experienced dust storms quite often. As in the case of the first 2 photos, during the summer wet season when it had thunderstorms at about 4 PM most days, they were often preceeded by dust storm. These photos are of the wall of dust that preceeded the storm.

These photos of an approaching dust storm were taken in the 1960s. Up until sometime in the 1970s Mt Isa was dry for most of the year and dust storms were common. In November or December the wet season started and most days there would be very heavy and and often storms usually starting at 4 pm, the change of shift at the mine. These storms were usually preceeded by a dust storm as can be seen in the photos above. Since the 1980s the dust storms have stopped and the rain is spread throughout the year that it used to be.

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The Leichardt River that divides the town of Mt Isa was usually dry but flooded onece or twice during the wetseason.

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