What the Chamber of Commerce Forgot to Say

Somehow, it never is mentioned in the Phoenix promotional literature that it occasionally rains mud here.  Below is my car, which I parked outside at night in a very clean condition.  Behold it in the morning:
Car_mud

No, it did not get stolen and taken out four-wheeling  (for some reason, teenage kids don't seem to steal Volvo's to go hot-rodding around -- go figure).  This is a result of the rainstorm last night.  What happens is we get big winds that whip up a lot of dirt in the air, so we get this really nice dust cloud.  Then it rains, with the water pulling the dirt out of the air and depositing it on the car.  Because the rain does not last long, the dirt stays on the car.  Instant mess.

3 Comments

  1. Allen:

    We have a similar problem in Denver. I always figured it was because when the rain comes in, it gets windy and kicks up the dust. Then it rains just a bit, enough to get the car wet and with the wind and the dirt in the air it sticks.

  2. M. Hodak:

    In New York, we get the occasional steaming mud geyser. Fortunately, that's very occasionally. And few of us own cars, besides.

  3. gmuch:

    Well - consider that. In parts of Europe we get this - quite rarely, in fact - with nothing else than Sahara desert dust - quite interesting considering the 2000-3000 miles between here and the African Desert...