Wind gusts of more than 80km/hr carried the fine red dust through the town shrouding shops, schools, motels, air-conditioners and gardens during Tuesday night and again on Thursday and Friday.

A trace of rain early on Wednesday morning spattered buildings and vehicles and only made the big clean-up situation worse as Cobar awoke to an eerie scene of desolation and low visibility.

From rooftops to footpaths and streets the dust will remain a part of Cobar until the next heavy rain event occurs which on current records is unlikely this week or next.

Officer in charge of Cobar’s Meteorological Station Daniel Hayes said a strong front associated with a deep low pressure system was responsible for the two wild dust storms which passed over the town.

An earlier storm which blackened Broken Hill about 3pm on Monday moved through southern areas of the State, bypassing Cobar, before reaching Canberra late in the afternoon.

Cobar’s turn came the following night as Dust Storm II roared in from the dry salt lakes of South Australia.

The sequel, Storm III occurred on Thursday evening bringing more gale force winds and fine red dust which lingered into Friday.

Daniel Hayes said Cobar experienced wind gusts of 83 km/hr as the storms passed through the region and extended to Sydney and the coast -White Cliffs and Broken Hill both recorded wind gusts of 96 km/hr.

Visibility was down to 200 metres or less in Cobar during Tuesday night as the dust blanketed the town.

“Dust storms are not that uncommon in Western NSW where we record a few dust events each year,” Mr Hayes reported.

“But Tuesday night’s storm was certainly a strong event and probably one of the worst in 70 years.

“We have had some very dry conditions of late, so there is not a lot of ground cover in areas out west.”

Cobar’s Rural Lands Ranger Robert Neate described Tuesday’s storm as the worst he had experienced since moving from South Australia during the early 1970s.

The wind and the dust, he said, created very difficult conditions for landowners with the loss of topsoil, increased evaporation rates and rapid drying out of any available livestock feed.

Worsening drought conditions were already evident following very low rainfall in August and September and last week’s wild weather only created more problems for landholders, the ranger said.