Why Snow in New Zealand’s Alps Turned an Alarming Shade of Red

During the Southern Hemisphere’s summer of 2019–2020, mountains in New Zealand turned red. New research finally explains why. Researchers have revealed that New Zealand’s Southern Alps turned red after a massive dust storm in southeast Australia sent clouds of red dust across the sea, dumping around 4,500 tons onto the snow. Their work, detailed in a study published in December of last year in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, corrects widespread assumptions that the contamination was caused by ashes from bushfires in Australia—and warns that such events could become more frequent in the future. “Media reports in 2020 generally assumed the blanket of red on the mountains was caused by ash swept across the sea from Australia’s devastating New Year bushfires,” explained Holly Winton, lead author of the study and an environmental scientist at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington, in a university statement. “But the red dust that led to the dramatic colour change act ... Read full article.