Tuesday's rain mixed with mud is a rare happening on coast
By BARRY HALVORSON bhalvorson@journal-spectator.com

Tuesday's rain of mud might not have been a disaster of Biblical proportions, but it is a relatively uncommon occurrence in this part of Texas.

"It happens in this area once every few years," National Weather Service Forecaster Matt Moreland said. "But when it does happen, it usually is during February or March."

Moreland said it takes a combination of weather events to produce the dust coating many found on their vehicles upon starting their morning.

"There was a massive dust storm in the Monterey (Mexico) area along with some grass fires," he said. "Strong winds were moving through the area from the southwest to the northeast and carried it high in the atmosphere in this direction."

While the upper level winds were bringing in the dust, lower level weather patterns were drawing in moisture from the Gulf. The two fronts met and produced the unusual dirty rain.

"The initial contact produced a rain combined with the dust," he said. "And there was following dust so when the cars got wet, the dust settled and stuck," Moreland said. "It's not typical for this combination to get this far east. You see it more frequently toward College Station and that area."

A more frequent occurrence is smoke moving into the area from controlled burns in the Yucatan and in Southern Mexico.

"The fire that contributed to this event was not a controlled burn but a wildfire," he said. "More typically, we get smoke from the burns used to clear land combined with a persistent southerly wind. In May of 1998, there was a strong wind and the smoke actually impacted visibility in this part of the state for several days. Usually, we get the smoke from the Mexico fires in May."

While this dust storm-rain combi- nation originated in Mexico, Moreland said it isn't the only combination causing such an event.

"There have been dust storms in the Sahara Desert that have been carried through the jet stream to Texas and storms originating in the Texas Panhandle and Oklahoma that have rained mud in this area. There is no one spot where it originates."