MYSTERY DUST COVERS SOUTHEAST TEXAS

 

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- We received hundreds of calls, emails, Facebook posts and tweets about your dirty cars on Sunday. Why were your cars dirty? A red dust was to blame, and we worked to track down the source and solve the mystery.

 

"It's very strange to see all this red dirt on the cars, and I've seen on many cars in front of me," said a resident while waiting in line at an area car wash.

 

Many folks tell us they woke up to find the mystery dust all over their cars this morning.

 

SO, WHAT WAS IT? 

 

ABC13 Meteorologist Travis Herzog went looking for answers to the mysterious dust, beginning by identifying the top three theories of what it could be.

 

The first theory is that it's cedar pollen that came in from the Texas Hill Country. The only problem with that is that the winds had not changed by the time you saw the dust on vehicles.

The second theory is that the dust blew in from West Texas. It does look like the sand and clay from there, but we had strong southwesterly winds over the past 24 hours until the front came through. Again, wrong direction.

 

The final theory is that it was mud showers from Mexico. And here's the clue that will likely crack this one wide open: a tweet was sent out by the National Weather Service in Brownsville just a few days ago. They noted a very large dust and sand cloud originating from Mexico, just south of the border.

 

The strong southwesterly winds we had Saturday could have transported the dust in this direction. And here's the kicker: most people say it looked like a dirty or rusty rain. The rain showers in the past 24 hours have all come from the southwest where that dust cloud was observed.

 

Of course, we couldn't be 100 percent sure unless we were to do a chemical analysis, but we believe we found the culprit: mud showers from Mexico.

 

Either way, it was certainly a car wash owner's dream.

Read more - http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=9369293

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