I'm not sure if this is an argument to not wash you car, or to wash it more. Did you notice how much dirt residue there was on your car this weekend, after the rain Friday night and early Saturday morning? There's a reason for that.

dirty rain
Photo: Kathryn Bilski; Used by permission
loading...

With all due respect to the local weather people, the best weatherman on the planet is Tom Skilling. He's been on WGN-TV in Chicago for over 40 years. He used to be on WGN America, too, for the rest of us, until they screwed up that channel. But I digress.

"Skillful" Skilling has the explanation, as usual:

"The answer is that it was caused by strong winds blowing across hundreds of miles of terrain — including huge tracts of land being plowed as part of spring planting. The winds sent dirt (and some pollen) airborne — and it fell, being washed from the air by Friday night’s showers...Many areas, west and southwest of Chicago are very dry, having had a lack of winter snow and spring rains, exacerbating the problem of windblown dust." - Tom Skilling

 

More From WKFR