Last February, an unusual rain descended upon parts of the Pacific Northwest, coating affected regions with a milky residue. A team of researchers from Washington State University say that dust from a dry lake bed nearly 500 miles away caused the off-color precipitation, Reuters reported. <\/p>\n
Initially believed to be the product of a volcanic eruption in Japan, ash from wildfires or a Nevada dust storm, the source of the rain was clarified when WSU researchers tested its chemical composition and studied wind pattern data from the event. <\/p>\n
Testing connected sodium levels in the rainwater samples with saline from a dry lake bed. Further analysis suggested \u2014 and eventually proved \u2014 that Oregon\u2019s Summer Lake was the source. <\/p>\n
The milky rain affected about 200 miles of Oregon and Washington, and mirrored a similar 2008 rainfall event in New Mexico. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Last February, an unusual rain descended upon parts of the Pacific Northwest, coating affected regions with a milky residue. A team of researchers from Washington State University say that dust from a dry lake bed nearly 500 miles away caused the off-color precipitation, Reuters reported. Initially believed to be the product of a volcanic eruption […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":22338,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,7],"tags":[345,103,156,200],"class_list":["post-22339","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-earth-atmosphere","category-news","tag-earth-atmosphere","tag-news-2","tag-rain","tag-washington-state-university"],"remote_post_permalink":false,"remote_post_featured_image":false,"yoast_head":"\n