What was up with the sudsy rain this morning?

Factual Questions
1

So, as I was leaving to drive to work this morning, I noticed that the water coming out of one of the drainpipes on my house was sudsy. That is, it looked like someone had mixed in some powdered detergent: there was white stuff mixed in with the rainwater, and it was bubbly like soapy water. Not like bubble bath level of suds, but enough so I noticed. I had a random thought about “detergent rain,” as opposed to acid rain, but I was late, so I hurried on my way.

Then, as I’m driving to work, I began to see it everywhere, all over the roads and sidewalks. I wish I had stopped to take a picture, but as I said I was running late, so I just kept going. It looked just like there was white, sudsy detergent any place there was a puddle.

Now, the only logical explanation I can think of is pollen. I’ve seen rainstorms wash pollen off everything before and it looked pretty much the same (although it’s often bright yellow or greenish), except for the suds. Anyone have any idea what kind of pollen would suds up like that? Or perhaps there is another explanation I am missing?

I don’t know if it matters, but I was just west of Boston, MA.

2

I’ve seen it before. Usually I see it after it’s been dry for weeks before hand. It’s just the built up dust, pollutants and such on all the surfaces.

3

bird nest material and other fun bird by-products.

4

Really? If it were just coming out of my drainpipe, I could imagine that. But this was all over the roads for several miles. Seems a bit much for birds, to be honest. Can you elaborate?

Built up dust and pollutants seems more plausible to me, but 1) it was very white, which I don’t associate with dust/dirt; and 2) I’d like to think I would have noticed something like that happening before. Maybe I just don’t remember. shrug

Thanks for the responses.

5

I’m north of Boston, and I noticed some pollen this morning, all over my truck. I’ve seen this before and when it gets really bad (worse than it was today) it accumulates around the edges of puddles, ditches, etc., but I wouldn’t call it sudsy.

6

Yes, I’ve definitely seen accumulated pollen run off before, many times, but never any sudsiness.

7

Two things come to mind:

Run off from people washing vehicles in the driveway (that goes RIGHT back into the river, ya know), or;

Decomposing organics.

I’ve seen sudsy, oily-looking water in rivers before and it’s due to decomposition of plants, leaves, grass, etc.

Link to a factsheet on foam: http://www.dec.state.ak.us/water/acwa/pdfs/fy05_arri_foamfactsheet.pdf

8

Thanks for that link - some potential answers there. It’s mostly about foam in streams and lakes, but includes the following: “Foam from plant produced surfactants will occur at many locations along a stream accumulating on against the bank, or on logs or other material in the stream. It may be white at first, but will turn brown over time as sediment particles build up in the foam. The foam will persist for some time gradually diminishing in size. Increases in foam abundance will often follow rainstorms that transport the surfactants to the stream or along lake shores on windy days.” (bolding mine)

9

I’m in st.petersburg florida…I noticed sudsy rain forming in a water collecting bucket, so i got a clean plastic container and collected it right from my roof. It formed so many bubbles, or suds, that i filmed it and posted it on facebook. Not sure how to post a video here. Where are you located?
i know i’m being paranoid, but aren’t the dispersants they are using in the gulf very much like dish detergent? Could the corexit be picked up via evaporation and rain down on us?

10

Posting a video here usually just means posting a link, archaeon. An easy way to make a link is just to drag the URL to here.

However, a video from Facebook might require that you have an account there to see it. (I think it depends on your privacy settings both for the video itself and your Facebook page.) Or, even if it doesn’t. it may reveal personal information–at least your name. Most people that post videos link to YouTube instead.