Nevada dust blamed for mystery 'milky' rain in U.S. Pacific Northwest

By Courtney Sherwood PORTLAND, Ore. (Reuters) - Unusual rain that deposited a mysterious residue across a swath of the U.S. Pacific Northwest appears to be a byproduct of dust storms hundreds of miles (km) away in Nevada, although volcanic ash from Japan cannot be ruled out, the National Weather Service said on Monday. "We're fairly certain it came from Nevada, but to confirm that we'd need to know exactly what the substance is," Weather Service scientist Mary Wister said. "Nevada had incredibly strong winds Thursday night and Friday morning, and the dirt there is a very alkaline dust." She added that low-elevation wind gusts have been blowing to the north, and likely carried the dust to rain clouds, which then could have deposited milky drops across a region that spans from remote Fossil, Oregon, to Spokane, Washington, she said. The National Weather Service is not equipped to perform such an analysis, and has not conducted tests on the substance, she added.

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