I'll start off by saying I'm not sure on this one - but as usual this is what I'm speculating. Seeing exactly the same thing 8 miles away was enough confirmation for me.
The Story:
On Monday the 29th of March, I went for a trip up a local hill to celebrate the stay at home order finally being relaxed, and came home with an extremely dirty car (see photo). I spent that afternoon washing it and went to bed safe in the knowledge that it was sparklingly clean. The next day however, I was disappointed to find the car covered in a thin but noticeable layer of creamy-coloured dust. The thought of a deposition of Saharan dust did cross my mind and I had a look online to try and confirm it, but with no solid evidence I took some pictures and left it at that.
A couple of days later, what was quite possibly the briefest and most discrete rain shower to ever hit Britain dropped a small number of rain drops on the car, which concentrated the dust into spots and made it even easier to see when the drops evaporated, leaving the car looking like it had developed a serious bout of acne. Then, after a trip to visit family (outside and socially-distanced) 8 miles away, I spotted that all the cars there also had this dust acne and my theory of a deposition of Saharan dust looked all the more likely.
Saharan Dust in the UK:
It is not uncommon for widespread depositions of Saharan dust to occur in the UK, and it is often spotted when our air comes from the south. It occurs because as wind blows over the sands of the Sahara, it can pick up the very fine dust particles and carry them high up into the atmosphere, where they can be transported around the world. If the air travels over the UK, it can deposit that dust, which can be especially noticeable on the shiny surface of cars. The dust can also cause our sunsets to be much more red in colour!
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