Dusty rain? Overnight showers leave residue from Plains wildfires on Chicago cars
If you woke up in the Chicago area Wednesday to find your car covered in dust after the rain last night, there's a reason for that.
The National Weather Service said extensive blowing dust and smoke and ash from wildfires in the central and southern Plains Tuesday.
The Ranger Road Fire is now a megafire, burning an area about the size of Chicago in Oklahoma and Kansas since it started on Tuesday afternoon, fed by bone-dry conditions and powerful winds.
The Ranger Road Fire started in Beaver County, Oklahoma and then spread about 60 miles to reach into southern Kansas, forcing evacuations.
Smoke and ash from that and other wildfires burning in the Plains, as well as dust from the extremely dry conditions, were drawn northeast toward the Chicago area by southwesterly winds, the NWS said, and became embedded in the raindrops from evening and overnight rain showers in the Chicago area.
As a result, folks who parked outside and had taken advantage of the unseasonable Chicago warmth to get their cars washed recently woke up Wednesday to find their vehicles covered in the "dusty rain" residue and needing another trip to the cleaners.
"I was like, why would somebody throw dirt on my car?" said Dion Madkins. "I guess now I gotta get a car wash because of that."
There were indeed long lines at State Street Hand Car Wash on Tuesday.
The dry and windy conditions aren't just affecting the Plains; the entire Chicago area is also under a red flag warning until 8 p.m. Wednesday for similar dangerous conditions, were the combination of low humidity and strong winds could make even a small spark into a major fire.
John McCabe, the director of resource management for the Forest Preserve of Cook County, said typically snow would still be on the ground this time of year, and the combination of warm temperatures and strong winds increase the threat of fires.
"The concern really is what we call unintended ignition. So you might have a member of the public that intentionally or unintentionally starts a fire, right. That can create problems for us and people around the preserve," he said.
The CNN Wire contributed to this report.
