CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — No, New England, that wasn’t a new strain of spring pollen coating your cars. It was dust carried across the country in a phenomenon known as “dirty rain.”
April showers are supposed to bring May flowers, but the light rain that fell across the region last Friday and Saturday brought dirt instead. Christian Bridges, a meteorologist with WGME-TV in Portland, Maine, was as perplexed as anyone until he checked the satellite imagery.
“You could see that dust got picked up in New Mexico two days before on Thursday by the same storm system," he said. “It then brought it up into the far northern part of the U.S. and then eventually brought it all the way to New England.”
Strong wind brought the dust to an altitude of around 10,000 feet (3,000 meters), he said, below the level of rain clouds.
“So the rain kind of grabbed the dust as it was falling and brought it down to the ground,” Bridges said. “It’s kind of cool to think it was transported 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) across the country.”
Parts of Wisconsin, Michigan and the northern Great Lakes region also reported “dirty rain” or “mud rain” before it hit Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Bridges said such rain is unusual but not unprecedented and is similar to the way smoke from Western wildfires makes it way east.
Dirt and dust originating 2,000 miles away in the desert Southwest, is seen on the windshield of a car in Portland, Maine, after being carried by wind and mixing with rain, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (Mike Hartford/WGME-TV via AP)
Dirt and dust originating 2,000 miles away in the desert Southwest, is seen on the windshield of a car in Portland, Maine, after being carried by wind and mixing with rain, Saturday, April 19, 2025. (Christian Bridges/WGME-TV via AP)
Dirt and dust originating 2,000 miles away in the desert Southwest, is seen on the windshield of a car in Portland, Maine, after being carried by wind and mixing with rain Saturday, April 19, 2025. (Mike Hartford/WGME-TV via AP)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Thursday that federal law enforcement is investigating a social media post made by former FBI Director James Comey that she and other Republicans suggest is a call for violence against President Donald Trump.
In an Instagram post, Comey wrote “cool shell formation on my beach walk” under a picture of seashells that appeared to form the shapes for “86 47.”
Numerous Trump administration officials, including Noem, said Comey was advocating for the assassination of Trump, the 47th president. “DHS and Secret Service is investigating this threat and will respond appropriately,” Noem wrote.
Merriam-Webster, the dictionary used by The Associated Press, says 86 is slang meaning “to throw out,” “to get rid of” or “to refuse service to.” It notes: “Among the most recent senses adopted is a logical extension of the previous ones, with the meaning of ‘to kill.’ We do not enter this sense, due to its relative recency and sparseness of use.”
The post has since been deleted. Comey subsequently wrote, “I posted earlier a picture of some shells I saw today on a beach walk, which I assumed were a political message. I didn’t realize some folks associate those numbers with violence.
“It never occurred to me,” Comey added, “but I oppose violence of any kind so I took the post down.”
Comey's original post sparked outrage among conservatives on social media, with Donald Trump Jr. accusing Comey of calling for his father’s killing.
Current FBI Director Kash Patel said he was aware of the post and was conferring with the Secret Service and its director.
James Blair, White House deputy chief of staff for legislative, political and public affairs, noted that the post came at a delicate time given that Trump is traveling in the Middle East.
“This is a Clarion Call from Jim Comey to terrorists & hostile regimes to kill the President of the United States as he travels in the Middle East,” Blair wrote on X.
Comey, who was FBI director from 2013 to 2017, was fired by Trump during the president's first term amid the bureau’s probe into allegations of ties between Russian officials and Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign. Comey wrote about his career in the best-selling memoir “A Higher Loyalty.”
He is now a crime fiction writer and is promoting his latest book, “FDR Drive,” which is being released on Tuesday.
President Donald Trump stands backdropped by an MQ-9 Reaper drone before addressing military personnel at the Al Udeid Air Base, Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Doha, Qatar. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
