Cyclone Narelle turns Australian skies blood red in ‘Apocalyptic' phenomenon
Blood red sky seen during Australia cyclone
March 31, 2026
Skies across Western Australia turned a terrifying blood-red this weekend as Tropical Cyclone Narelle barreled towards the coast.
This created apocalyptic scenes that looked like scenes straight out of a disaster movie.
The unsettling phenomenon occurred on Friday, March 27, when the storm whipped iron-rich soil from the ground into the atmosphere.
The effect has been referred to as “mie scattering,” which happens when sunlight hits large numbers of microscopic particles that match the wavelength of red light.
The storm also had the rare distinction of making landfall in far north Queensland, then crossing the Northern Territory and striking Western Australia.
The roofs were torn off buildings in Exmouth, and 80% of a banana crop was destroyed in Carnarvon.
Production at Australia's two biggest liquefied natural gas plants, operated by Chevron and Woodside, had to be stopped. This put additional pressure on world energy supplies already disrupted by the Middle East war.
On Saturday, March 26, Narelle downgraded to a subtropical system. Western Australia Premier Roger Cook declared one-off payments of up to $4,000 for destroyed homes as cleanup began.
