Layer of dust that covered cars across the UK this morning has been explained

Every driver knows the pain of forking out to have your car valeted only to leave the forecourt and have a massive pigeon do an even bigger s**t on the roof.

And while no one's complained of excrement - yet - loads of people woke this morning to find their car covered in a thick layer of brown dust.

The bizarre smattering of dirt has outraged motorists up and down these fair isles.

Drivers have taken to social media over the past few hours to share their utter confusion at being faced with the strange substance.

Sharing a photo to X, one person said: "Car is covered in dust this morning."

Another commented: "After a couple of hours of light rain in Manchester this morning, I’ve just looked out of the window and spotted a powder/dust all over the cars.

Met Office

"Surely it’s not 'pollen' at this late stage of the season, so what is it?"

"There was something in the rain today in the U.K, all the cars are covered in dust after the rain," yet another concerned motorist put.

"It looks like what happened when the volcano erupted in Iceland, just lighter colour. Very weird."

While someone else remarked: "But where's the mysterious coating come from?"

Well, according to the experts, absolutely miles away, that's where from.

SOULEYMANE AG ANARA/AFP via Getty Images

The Met Office explained the dust that's covered countless windshields originally came from the Sahara desert.

"Saharan dust has been in the atmosphere around the UK in recent days," said Met Office spokesperson Stephen Dixon.

"Some of this has been rained out in early morning showers, which gives this ‘dirty’ look that some people will have noticed on their car this morning.

"The levels of Saharan dust is lower in concentration over the coming days, before moving away early next week."

So how does it get from all the way over there to all the way over here, some 2,600 miles away?!

Again, according to the Met Office, the dust is whipped up in strong winds, and blown into the atmosphere before being swept across the continent.

It says: "Once it is lifted from the ground by strong winds, clouds of dust can reach very high altitudes and be transported worldwide, covering thousands of miles.

"In order for the dust to get from up in the sky down to the ground, you need something to wash it out of the sky - rain.

"As raindrops fall, they collect particles of dust on the way down. Then when the raindrops land on something and eventually evaporate, they leave behind a layer of dust."

So there you have it, nothing to worry about.

Topics: UK News, Weather, Weird, Science

Dominic Smithers

Dominic Smithers is LADbible's Editorial Lead. After graduating from the University of Leeds with a degree in French and History, he went on to write for the Manchester Evening News, the Accrington Observer and the Macclesfield Express. So as you can imagine, he’s spent many a night wondering just how useful that second language has been. But c'est la vie.

@SmithersDom