A dusty end to 2018

A year of dust, dry dirt and drought ended with the biggest dust storm of all.

As Monday afternoon's huge dust storm loomed large in the sky to the southwest of Dubbo, it seemed at first spectacular, but as it rolled unstoppably into the city we realised it was also destructive.

The wind and dust storm brought down tree branches, upturned garbage bins, and sadly led to the cancellation of the annual New Year's Eve Fireworks spectacular which was expecting a crowd of up to 8000 people at Apex Oval.

The Bureau of Meteorology recorded a peak gust at the city's official weather stattion at the airport of 80km/h at 18.16pm.

Photographer Stephen Ney used his drone to capture this amazing photo of the dust storm approaching Dubbo.

He was in the garage when his wife Sharen suggested he come and have a look at what was approaching.

Stephen grabbed his drone and put it up to around 90 metres.

“You couldn’t tell from the ground how bad it really was,” Stephen said.

A quick check of the drone’s live view confirmed that something big was on the way.

Stephen’s drone spent about 12 minutes in the air capturing the approaching dust storm.

He had to land quickly as the approaching storm was whipping up strong winds.

Stephen’s photos captured a breathtaking weather event over Dubbo.