As Western Australians braced for Tropical Cyclone Narelle over the weekend, the system triggered a powerful dust storm that transformed skies across parts of the country into a dramatic blood-red hue.

The striking scene was recorded in Shark Bay and Denham, Australia, and has since gone viral on social media.

OPEN Magazine reported that the unusual phenomenon was prompted by the dust altering the way light passed through the sky.

The report noted that the concentration of dust particles scattered shorter blue wavelengths of light, after which only the longer red wavelengths passed through, resulting in the crimson-tinted glow.

The videos sparked debate online with some users expressing disbelief at the intensity of the colour, while Australians insisted there was ‘no filter’ on the videos.

The storm, the first in over 20 years to make landfall across three of Australia’s jurisdictions, has caused widespread damage thus far.

It hit Queensland’s Cape York Peninsula on March 20, then the Northern Territory before crossing the Indian Ocean and intensifying before reaching Western Australia as a category four system.