For the first time in several years, much of North Carolina was in a Code Red Air Quality Alert on Wednesday, prompting many residents and school programs to change their plans for spending time outdoors.
As a cold front approached North Carolina on Wednesday, air quality deteriorated.
The North Carolina Division of Air Quality posted a discussion on the forecast Wednesday morning and said, "We anticipate that any precipitation over the northern counties will be relatively light and even possibly enhance surface particulate matter values by pushing smoke down to lower levels."
This front didn't bring significant rainfall to the area. There were no thunderstorms present as the front came through.
Less than one-half of an inch of rain fell, but showers were still falling as early as sunrise on Thursday morning.
If you noticed your car looked a little dirtier than when you saw it on Wednesday, here's why.
Winds transporting the smoke from the wildfires in Canada are largely contained at an altitude between three kilometers and six kilometers up in the sky. It was at this altitude that raindrops developed as the cold front came through, so smoke particles became trapped inside raindrops as they fell.
Look at the results of my weather experiment where I put multiple clean glasses out to catch rainwater overnight. Even though I had less than a tenth of an inch of rainfall at my house, I combined the glasses to show the dirty water that resulted from the rainfall.
Compared to a clean glass of water from our office water fountain, you can see there's a stark contrast in the liquids!
So if you washed your car lately, you might have noticed a bit more dirt covering your vehicle than there was earlier. As water droplets evaporated this morning, a thin residue was left behind.
Hopefully, a car wash should get you back on the road in clean shape.
Thankfully, we don't expect more rain to return until late in the weekend, at which time we expect our air quality to improve.
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