Sydney - The worst dust storm in 40 years was Monday dusting the snow with an orange powder in the alpine region of Australia's south-east corner and bringing what locals call mud rain.

Winds of up to 100 kilometres per hour are lifting soil from the arid interior of New South Wales and dumping it nearer the coast. When combined with rain, it can fall with the consistency of watery mud.

The ochre dust has swept across Mount Kosciusko, flat Australia's highest mountain, giving what resident Darren Nielsen told national broadcaster ABC was an "extremely bizarre" aspect.

"Seeing the sky and just the whole village in darkness and the mountain orange is a really eerie sort of feeling," he said. (dpa)