Photo: Wendy Wilde
(Des Moines, IA) -- If your car is dirtier after Monday's rain than it was the day before, you're not the only one. Blame Texas. And, New Mexico.
"Occasionally here in the state of Iowa and other states that are kind of downstream from areas where there's tilled up dirt somewhere, southwest of us, it (the dust) sometimes gets transported up into the upper atmosphere, and ends up being washed back down." Roger Vachalek, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Iowa explains.
Another meteorologist, Matt Schaefer from WQOW-TV in Eau Claire, Wisconsin says he tracked the dirty rain and snow back to the source.
Schaefer says it was “…fed by the jet stream, which started down right where that dust was in New Mexico and Texas, (and it) came right up. “
Dirty rain and snow fell in both Iowa and Wisconsin. It was most noticeable on cars.
The meteorologists say dirty rain is not uncommon, and happens several times a year.