Car wash businesses in the Central U.S. have been busier than usual this week after residents across several states awoke Saturday morning to strange, dusty patterns on their vehicles.
Shopping center parking lots were filled with cars and trucks with the same pattern, convincing drivers it wasn’t just something falling out of trees in their yards. TV station meteorologists were quick to offer an explanation.
Mike Goldberg, a meteorologist at CBS 6 in Richmond, Va., said massive dust storms in Texas and New Mexico were responsible. The dust was lifted high into the atmosphere and was brought to earth by a gentle overnight rain shower. The raindrops were filled with dirt and dust from the storms that traveled across the country in the jet stream.
"We are far from alone - this occurred from the central U.S. all the way to the Mid-Atlantic," Goldberg said on the station’s website.
Meterorologists say the dirty rain fell over a wide swatch of the country, starting in Missouri and traveling as far as the Atlantic Coast. Besides sending vehicles to the car wash, health officials say the fine dust and dirt particles can cause problems for people with respiratory issues.