Australia Weather News

Witnesses have described a massive dust storm that has swept across parts of Western Australia's Pilbara as a cinematic spectacle.

Plumes of swirling dust were seen outside Onslow, 1,400 kilometres north of Perth, shortly after midday on Saturday.

Visitor Julie Ray was out driving with her husband when they noticed large orange clouds taking shape on the horizon.

"As we got closer and closer, it just got bigger and bigger and thicker," Ms Ray said.

"I had never seen anything like it.

"It was just huge, heading towards [us] — and not knowing how fast it was coming either, you just knew you had to get away from it."

Ms Ray said the experience was like being dropped into a Hollywood blockbuster.

"Like Indiana Jones in the movies — the dust storm's coming with the camels," she said.

It was a relief to watch the storm move away from town, Ms Ray said.

"It's 41 degrees [Celsius here] … if that sort of dust came, you have to turn your air conditioning off, which would have been quite interesting in the heat."

The enormous mass of wind and sand crept southwards adjacent to the coast, and was visible over open water at least as far south as Exmouth, more than 100km away.

'Happens every year'

Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Joey Rawson said the phenomenon was not unlike the "microburst" that ripped roofs from houses in Marble Bar only days earlier.

An isolated thunderstorm over the northern town triggered winds of 115 kilometres per hour, destroying five homes and raising concerns over asbestos contamination.

"That's the thunderstorm pushing air down towards the ground, and then that air pushing forward from there," Mr Rawson said.

"If you get those microbursts and the ground is quite dry and there is a lot of available dust, then we can certainly get these conditions like we saw just inland from Onslow."

While the winds within the dust storm did not climb to dangerous levels, Mr Rawson said it demonstrated "the ample amount of heating and moisture that is around the Pilbara and Kimberley" at present.

Gusts up to 80kph were also recorded in Newman on Saturday, causing some minor damage. 

"[There is] just so much heat and so much energy up there that storms can certainly produce gusts getting up into that damaging wind strength," Mr Rawson said.

"It happens every year, so there is the potential for that to happen each day of the week ahead as well."