Modern Vespa

Anyone else see this on cars today in London?

Apparently it's known as 'blood rain' when sand from the Sahara is sucked up an deposited hundreds of miles away.

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/apr/01/london-smog-saharan-dust-storms-downing-street

I know it sounds like an April fool's joke, but I went for a walk at lunchtime and noticed quite a few cars sporting a red dusty finish.

Have I been suckered?

I'd noticed that on my car. Also my conifers were full of it; my kids were throwing a basketball at them, causing clouds of dust. We thought it was pollen at the time.

Sign of the apocalypse?

Yep, got it here in Cheshire too.

We get that once or twice a year. Tons of Sahara sand are deposited all over southern Israel. Then the UN passes a resolution demanding that we give it back.

[~rimshot~]

I'll be here all week. Don't forget to tip your servers.

Yeah it was all over my lovely clean Vespa yesterday, apparently we are to expect more so I won't be getting out the sponge just yet

You leave your baby out in the rain? :horror:

Parked at the station yes, I can't take a cover theres no room to store it

Irrelevant but nice

Sahara Dust also known as Epica

They also did the Pirates of the Caribbean theme

Lots of spatters of dust on my scooter too. Had to give her a rinse off last night.

It's real. Beijing gets it all the time from Mongolia. The sand storms are horrible there. Be careful when yoou clean your car or scooter. Wash it off before you use any kind of cleaner on it. This would be the one time i'd use water on my scoot.

hmm interesting.. Busy time to be a window cleaner I guess.

Probably would be a good idea to wash it off carefully off the scoot rather than blast it with a high pressure hose..

I hope so

Ahh, you need a top box!

raining blood from the lacerated sky ................

i reckon this red dust could be good for riding..

i went out on the MP3 last night and spanked the f**k out of it, even the usually shit road surfaces seemed uber grippy

when i got back, the inside of my zorst was glowing red, i'd ever seen that before (on my 250 at least anyway)

winter blues gone

riding mojo back with a vengeance

I was noticing all the stuff on the cars when walking around. I just assumed it was pollen.

We get the same phenomenon here on Paros when there is a prolonged south wind from Africa. When we get the same south winds in the dry season, it is like living in a cloud of dust. The first time we experienced this in dry season, Mrs Av used a damp cloth to clean off our diningroom table, and left what looked like finger painting in the mud that was left behind!