Storm throws up Oban mystery

RESIDENTS near McCaig’s Tower in Oban started 2017 with a bit of mystery, writes Louise Glen.

Cars in the area were covered with a fine dusting of a creamy, yellowy- coloured powder.

At first residents believed the powder was fallout from Storm Barbara or Conor. The police office in Oban said they believed it may be residue from fireworks, while others said it was dust from Glensanda Quarry.

On some cars and windows it looked as though people had thrown bags of flour over the paintwork – and this is what led people to report the matter to the police.

The police initially believed the culprit was much closer to home. A police spokesman said: ‘ We had a number of complaints to us about damage to cars over Hogmanay and New Year.

‘After investigation it is believed some of the damage may have been a creamy yellow dust perhaps in the aftermath of the storms and from the residue of the fireworks.’

However BID4Oban manager Derek Connery said he believed the residue was on the cars prior to the fireworks, as some damage was reported as early as Friday morning – a day before the main fireworks were set off at Hogmanay.

Deposits of dust were also found at Taynuilt, Kilmelford, Lerags and readers as far away as Perthshire were also reporting they had been victims of the dust.

Readers said they had ruled out the dust being from the Sahara as that was usually red, and they thought the dust from Glensanda would have materialised before last week, with previous experiences of dust in the town having been grey.

So it looked like the mystery would continue, with some people who experienced the fine powder saying they will take it to SAMS to find out if they can shed any light on the matter. However, Mr Connery’s investigations appear to be spot on, as the Met office has confirmed the film was yellow dust from the Sahara 2,500 miles away.