A severe weather warning was in place for damaging winds to the west of the Illawarra.

Winds picked up dust ahead of a trough that moved north easterly.

A NSW Bureau of Meteorology spokeswoman said parts of the region experienced a reduction in visibility.

Damaging winds averaging 50 to 65 km/h, with peak gusts in excess of 90 km/h, occurred for parts of the Southern Highlands, Illawarra, Central Tablelands and Southern Tablelands.

The spokeswoman said the dust cleared out well after the trough passed.

She said the dust was expected to clear as the winds continued to move north easterly towards the ocean.

NSW Rural Fire Service’s Facebook page said gusts of 100km/h had been recorded in the Blue Mountains on Sunday.

“The wind is bring a lot of dust with it,” the post said.

On November 22, a dust cloud – of dry topsoil lifted from parched parts of inland NSW – blew in from the west about 8.30am.

The dust, which lingered for a couple of hours, was driven by strong winds linked to a deep low pressure system in Victoria.

The system whipped up dirt from drought-stricken western parts of the state and pushed it across the state, over the ACT and into broad areas of eastern NSW.

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