Residents in the Chicagoland area woke up on Wednesday to find their cars parked outside covered in dust from wildfires in Kansas and Oklahoma, which was carried in the rain, forecasters said.
The National Weather Service (NWS) said residents in the northern Illinois area may be wondering why there was an unwelcome dusty surprise on their cars parked outside on Wednesday morning.
The substance was dust from extensive blowing dust and wildfire smoke following the strong winds and extreme fire conditions in the central and southern Plains on Tuesday, the NWS said.
The dust was drawn northeastward from very strong southwesterly winds above the ground and became embedded in the raindrops that fell Tuesday evening into Wednesday morning.
The result was “dusty rain” and a need for a trip to the car wash, the NWS said.
A megafire, dubbed the Ranger Road Fire, has burned over 145,000 acres in Oklahoma and Kansas since it started early Tuesday afternoon, according to the Oklahoma Forestry Services.
The fire was 0% contained as of Wednesday morning, the agency said, adding that three other wildfires, which have burned over 10,000 acres, ranged from 20-25% contained.
“Very dry air will overspread the state today and tomorrow yielding very receptive fuels and the expectation of increasing wildfire occurrence. Resources continue to work the significant wildfires in northwestern Oklahoma from yesterday with more accurate mapping and acreage/damage assessments in progress,” Oklahoma Forestry Services said.
In Illinois, a red flag warning remains in effect for all of the top third of the state, including Lake and McHenry counties.
The NWS said conditions will turn very dry and windy on Wednesday afternoon, making conditions supportive of brush fire spread.
“Even with rainfall last night, generally 0.05 to 0.15 of an inch across northeastern Illinois, the combination of warm, dry, and windy conditions will cause fine fuels to dry out by early afternoon,” the weather service said.