There’s been a lot of talk about the El Nino bringing a nasty bushfire season this summer, and looking outside this morning you could be forgiven for thinking the city is on fire. Except you can taste the dust.

That’s the view up William Street to the Coke sign in Kings Cross.

There’s an orange fog draped around the city. As you can see, visibility’s extremely low, the ferries have been cancelled.

That’s the Horizon building wrapped in dust. Meteorologists say it won’t clear until this afternoon.

UPDATE: According to the SMH, flights at Sydney airport are delayed due to “strong winds and dust haze,” citybound lanes on the M5 have been closed because of dust in the tunnel. The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a severe weather warning across the state as a result of widespread damaging winds, which were expected to average over 65km/h, but gusted above 100km/h.