Yellow, orange and brown stuff falling from the sky? Snowed-in residents mystified by strange phenomenon

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Yellow snow falls across central US during spring snowstorm

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.

.@NWSTwinCities Here's the #GOES16 Split Window (10.3-11.2 µm) from 0301-1546 UTC, showing the yellow signature of airborne dust making its way northward overnight: https://t.co/S3YcGr3K5O Should see reports of "dirty snow" from parts of #SDwx #IAwx #WIwx & even the UP of #MIwx pic.twitter.com/uEF6uB4TuC — Scott Bachmeier (@CIMSS_Satellite) April 11, 2019

Look closely. The snow in Watertown, SD is intermixed with top soil lofted/carried northeast likely from as far as the West Texas/southern Plains region. @accuweather @breakingweather #Blizzard pic.twitter.com/JyGIw2dJ0S — Blake Naftel (@BlakeNaftel) April 11, 2019