Extreme heat warning in effect through Sunday

MPR News helps you turn down the noise and build shared understanding. Turn up your support for this public resource and keep trusted journalism accessible to all. 

Turn Up Your Support

The combination of high-level winds carrying dust from the Great Plains, and a trace of rain to bring it to the ground, left a dirty patina on cars and trucks across the region Monday morning.

That sent some drivers to car washes with vehicles that looked like they'd been abandoned outside for a lengthy period. 

“A lot of people have been seeing the same thing across much of southern Minnesota — a cake-like coating on vehicles and other surfaces,” said MPR News meteorologist Sven Sundgaard. “This is dust that came all the way from Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska — that migrated up with the storm system overnight, and the few showers and thunderstorms that we did see actually helped push that dust to the ground with just a little bit of moisture. We barely saw any measurable rainfall in the Twin Cities, just enough to make that cake-like coating.”

Satellite images from the weekend showed plumes of dust sweeping across multiple states toward Minnesota.

Some parts of the state saw up to about a half-inch of rain late Sunday into early Monday — but that rainfall was spotty and not enough to relieve ongoing drought conditions across much of Minnesota.

Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, which saw just a trace of rain overnight, is now nearly 10 inches below normal precipitation for the year. The airport has seen just four-tenths of an inch of rain since Sept. 1.

Minnesota News

Weather and Climate News

Environmental News

NewsPartners

Tim Nelson

Author

The combination of high-level winds carrying dust from the Great Plains, and a trace of rain to bring it to the ground, left a dirty patina on cars and trucks across the region Monday morning.


A car is covered in dirt and dust, with marks left by raindrops

Car caked with mud this morning? Thank Great Plains dust and a light rain

Go Deeper.

Like this?