Wildfire smoke, rain leave cars coated in dust across Chicagoland

Wind-driven ash and rain blankets Chicago cars

You may have woken up this morning to find your car dustier than you left it.  Mother Nature poured dirty rain across the area last night.  Kasey Chronis is live in West Town to explain. 

CHICAGO - Overnight rainfall left an unpleasant surprise for drivers across Chicagoland Wednesday who woke up to find their cars coated in dust and grime.

Experts say the film was caused by wildfire smoke originating in the Central and Southern Plains. 

What we know:

Beautiful weather typically drives traffic at car washes, but in this case, it was the dust.

As soon as the garage doors opened Wednesday morning, long lines began forming at car washes across the city and suburbs.

The residue may have been a nuisance for drivers — some of whom waited more than an hour in line — but local businesses were cashing in.

"I seen it rained a little bit earlier, and then when I got up today, I was surprised to see all this dust on it. I don't even know what this dust is. I really thought it would just be wet or something, but it looks like mud," said Gino Metlow, a customer at Riverview Hand Car Wash & Detail Center on Clybourn. 

Similarly, at Bert's Car Wash near Grand and Ogden, a steady line down the block kept employees busy all day long.

"A lot of customers complained about that dirt on top of the car. It seemed to happen after the rain last night. That's the biggest complaint everybody has today. Our regular customers, they come often, but right now, everybody is complaining about the specific dust," explained Jorge Aguilar, a business partner at Bert's Car Wash. 

Dig deeper:

The soot that blanketed cars overnight came after a perfect storm.

"It's almost as if you are washing soot off of a chimney," said Matthew Roling, a clinical assistant professor at Northwestern Kellogg School of Management. "The rain just pulls all of that soot out of the air and it comes right down on people's cars and then they have to go to the car wash."

Roling said wildfires in Oklahoma, in particular, are at the root of the issue.

"The fire is very intense and it's sending soot and smoke high up into the atmosphere. There's heat underneath it pushing it up," he explained. 

Roling, who is also the executive director of the Abrams Climate Academy, said wildfires across the Plains, combined with high south-easterly winds, picked up dust and debris overnight. The rain then trapped those particles, sending them back down to the ground — or, in this case, onto vehicles.

"The soot that's coming down, the rain on your car isn't going to hurt anything, but when you're inhaling particulate matter from something like a wildfire, like the ones we had in the smoke coming down from Canada, that is actually very harmful for human health," Roling said. 

On Wednesday, IQAir listed Chicago's air quality as 'good,' but you may remember in past years, wildfire smoke from Canada made it difficult to breathe.

To monitor air quality in your area, click here.

What's next:

According to FOX Chicago's Emily Wahls, another storm system is expected Thursday, which could result in another round of 'dirty rain.'

The Ranger Road Fire in Oklahoma remains active and has already destroyed at least 155,000 acres.