Scientists have finally solved the mystery of a milky rain that **coated** cars and raised eyebrows across a wide swathe of North America’s Pacific Northwest region this February. A Washington State University team said they had determined that dust from the dry bed of a shallow lake some 772 kilometers from where the rain fell was to blame for the unusual precipitation.
The rain left a trail of powdery residue across a nearly 322-kilometer stretch of eastern parts of Oregon and Washington State, leaving scientists and residents **perplexed** about its origins. Some scientists initially **speculated** that an erupting Japanese volcano was the source of the powdery white substance. Others blamed wildfires, and some thought that a Nevada dust storm was the cause.
All three theories were proven wrong. That led researchers to consider Oregon’s Summer Lake, which is shallow and often largely dries up during droughts. A storm with winds reaching 96 kilometers per hour struck Summer Lake the night before the milky rain.
Photo: Wu Chun-feng, Liberty Times
照片:自由時報記者吳俊鋒
“That would have been powerful enough to lift a good-sized dust plume,” said Nic Loyd, a meteorologist at the university.
(Courtesy of the Liberty Times)
今年二月間,在北美太平洋西北地區廣大地帶讓車輛覆蓋白白一層、讓人驚訝不已的牛奶雨之謎,終於被科學家解開。美國華盛頓州立大學的研究團隊說,他們判定這種不尋常的降雨,都是約七百七十二公里外一座淺湖乾涸湖底的沙所造成。
那陣雨降在奧勒岡州與華盛頓州東部,將近三百二十二公里的地帶遍佈粉末,讓科學家與居民不解其來源。某些科學家起初推斷,這種粉末狀白色物質來自日本一座噴發的火山。有人怪罪野火,也有人認為原因在於內華達州的沙塵暴。
結果證實上述三種理論都不正確。這讓研究人員開始考慮水不深、乾旱期大半乾涸的奧勒岡州夏湖。天降牛奶雨的前一晚,夏湖下了一場挾著每小時風速達九十六公里的暴風雨。
華盛頓州大氣象學家尼克.羅以德表示:「那種力量強大到足以捲起大片沙塵。」
(自由時報提供/翻譯:自由時報國際新聞中心)
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