"Milky" Rain Falls in Spokane

[bainbridgekid]

Spokane's NWS has been posting on Facebook about this today. They have several theories to explain it, but aren't sure what caused it.

 

"We have heard a few theories thus far including; volcanic ash from Mexico or Russia, dust picked up from last night's strong winds, or perhaps ash from last year's wildfires over SE Oregon/SW Idaho. We still don't have a definitive answer."

 

 

 

"Here is what the rainwater collected from our rain gauge looked like today. Definitely much cloudier than the typical rain water we see."

 

Any other theories?

[bainbridgekid]

Here's a map of the reports. Apparently it's more widespread than I originally thought!

 

From the NWS: "We had many reports of a “dirty” or “milky” rain leaving residue on cars (and jackets and cell phones) across the region this morning. Here’s a map of points where we received these reports from. While many have speculated on the origins of the residue, the truth is that we really don’t know where it came from! We are continuing to investigate and have reached out to other offices for assistance in recreating atmospheric flows from the past several days. We’ve also reached out to other agencies that may have collected samples appropriate for testing. We will update you via all our normal means when we have more information."

 

[Dan the Weatherman]

I wonder if there is any chance that it may be from pollution in China (resulting from burning coal) or other parts of Asia that has been transported here by upper level winds?

[bainbridgekid]

Spokane NWS ran an analysis of the upper level winds and came out with this map.

 

Looks like maybe fire related?

 

[Dan the Weatherman]

From the looks of that map, the ashes from the King fire may have been the culprit, although a lot of the ash may have been washed away during the December storms. That was quite a large fire that burned in the Sierras south of Tahoe this past summer.

[bainbridgekid]

Looks like the mystery may be solved!

 

This makes a very good case that the cause was dust from dust storms in Nevada being transported North to Eastern Oregon and Washington.

 

Good read.

 

http://inlandnorthwestweather.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-february-6th-milky-rain-possible.html

[bainbridgekid]

Cliff Mass just weighed in on this mystery. He makes a pretty strong case that the origin may be dust from the dry Summer Lake in Southern Oregon.

 

Another really good read that gets into all the factors (very dry weather over the last few months, strong 65 mph winds at the lake the day before the mystery rain, etc.)

 

http://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2015/02/what-was-mysterious-dust-raining-down.html