Yellow, orange and brown stuff falling from the sky? Snowed-in residents mystified by strange phenomenon
People were puzzled across the central United States on Thursday when they looked outside to see an unusual sight: brown snow.
Snow appeared to have a yellow, orange or brown tint to it in parts of Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Minneapolis was one of the bigger cities that saw this unusual weather phenomenon.
Social media users commented that it looked like bits of frozen ice tea were mixed in with the snow. Some even said that it looked poopy brown.
The origins of these colors can be traced back hundreds of miles to Texas and New Mexico.
NOAA satellite imagery showed strong winds associated with the massive snowstorm sweeping across the middle of the country lofting dust into the air on the south side of the storm system, over New Mexico and Texas on April 10, 2019.
On Wednesday, powerful winds on the back side of the storm in the central U.S. picked up dust and lofted it high into the atmosphere. These winds blew the dust northward, where it mixed with the snow and fell on the northern side of the storm on Thursday.
The colored snow is not harmful, although people may not want to attempt to eat it.
Although colored snow like this is unusual, it is not unheard of. Earlier this winter, black snow fell in Russia as coal dust mixed in with snow before falling to the ground.
The National Weather Service (NWS) explained the origin of the dust on Twitter with the help of imagery from the GOES-16 weather satellite.
Write the the tweet and animation below and call it out to readers
Report a Typo
