Amazing pictures have emerged of a bright orange dust storm sweeping over the coast off Onslow in Western Australia.
The freakish weather phenomenon comes as Australia continues to battle fierce blazes and another heat-wave threatens to bring 40 degree temperatures to parts of Victoria.
The Austrralian Bureau of Meteorology said the incredible sight of a ''red wave'' at sea was created as wind and rain caused the storm to dump the sand and dust it had taken from the land.
They said storm gusts reached 75 mph and that such storms were normal for this time of year.
Tug boat worker Brett Martin, who took some photos of the storm, old Yahoo that he and his colleagues were west of False Island when the thunderstorm, which quickly strengthened and gathered dust, passed over Onslow and headed to the Indian Ocean.
"We were steaming along in the boat just before sunset and the storm was casually building in the distance, then it got faster and faster and it went from glass to about 40 knots in two minutes," he said.
The dust storm is not believed to be related to the Tropical Cyclone headed towards Western Australia.