White Flaky Residue After Snow Melts

[Dano62]

New to the forum.  I'm 62 years old, have lived in Maine my entire life, and have never seen what I describe following.  We live off a paved private road.  The road gets plowed during/after snow storms and no salt (or equivalent) is used on the road.  We've never used any type of salt/snow melt on our paved driveway, or anywhere on our property.  Last winter, and this winter, after I have cleaned off our vehicles with a shop type floor broom, and have snowblowed our walkway/upper driveway, I put them away in our garage.  After the remaining snow melts off of them, and the water evaporates, there is a flaky white residue left where the snow melted.  It has to be something that binds to the snow flakes as they fall, but I can't for the life of me figure out what it is.  Any ideas?  Maybe I don't want to know!

[Ginx snewx]

7 hours ago, Dano62 said:

New to the forum.  I'm 62 years old, have lived in Maine my entire life, and have never seen what I describe following.  We live off a paved private road.  The road gets plowed during/after snow storms and no salt (or equivalent) is used on the road.  We've never used any type of salt/snow melt on our paved driveway, or anywhere on our property.  Last winter, and this winter, after I have cleaned off our vehicles with a shop type floor broom, and have snowblowed our walkway/upper driveway, I put them away in our garage.  After the remaining snow melts off of them, and the water evaporates, there is a flaky white residue left where the snow melted.  It has to be something that binds to the snow flakes as they fall, but I can't for the life of me figure out what it is.  Any ideas?  Maybe I don't want to know!

It is salt,  ocean salt can create condensation nuclei which snowflakes form around. 

[Dano62]

1 hour ago, Ginx snewx said:

It is salt,  ocean salt can create condensation nuclei which snowflakes form around. 

It does look like salt.  We're exactly 20 miles inland from the ocean and 750' above sea level, which I suppose in the big scheme of things isn't that far, or too high in elevation.  The funny thing is, these are my first two winters living inland.  The rest of my life was spent living less than 2 miles from the ocean, and I never saw this before.  Maybe I'll put some on my finger and touch it with my tongue.  Will let you know the results of my unscientific test.

[Ginx snewx]

4 hours ago, Dano62 said:

It does look like salt.  We're exactly 20 miles inland from the ocean and 750' above sea level, which I suppose in the big scheme of things isn't that far, or too high in elevation.  The funny thing is, these are my first two winters living inland.  The rest of my life was spent living less than 2 miles from the ocean, and I never saw this before.  Maybe I'll put some on my finger and touch it with my tongue.  Will let you know the results of my unscientific test.

Yea with all these long fetch easterly and South easterly winds salt is uplifted easily 20 miles. Boston area is famous for salt nuclei adding to snow amounts.

[CoastalWx]

I’ll be honest, I live 2 miles from the ocean and I’ve never seen that. But, I don’t know what else it would be?

[Dano62]

I touched a few flakes to my tongue.  It was bitter, not salty.  I'll see if I can get a good photo tomorrow and post it.  Thanks guys for chiming in.

[Damage In Tolland]

Could it be ..

Beer?

[NorEastermass128]

It’s SNE’s tear nuclei. Lots of tears just to your south after another non winter. 

[RUNNAWAYICEBERG]

On 4/11/2024 at 6:23 PM, Dano62 said:

I touched a few flakes to my tongue.  It was bitter, not salty.  I'll see if I can get a good photo tomorrow and post it.  Thanks guys for chiming in.

Bird poopies…

[Typhoon Tip]

It's because Dandruff isn't soluble in water -

[Dano62]

Here we are, almost a year later.  The last snowfall we got, about 8 inches, was driven by a strong northwest wind (not off the ocean).  It had been blowing hard northwest for a number of days prior to the storm.  The amount of the white flakey material left after the snow melted off my snow blower is pretty significant.  A friend of my wife has a cousin who works in a lab and can test it to see what it is.  

[Damage In Tolland]

What in the Sam hell is going on here?

[H2Otown_WX]

Coke?

[Dano62]

6 minutes ago, H2Otown_WX said:

Coke?

Maybe I should just forget about the lab, bag it up, and sell it!

[powderfreak]

2 hours ago, Dano62 said:

Here we are, almost a year later.  The last snowfall we got, about 8 inches, was driven by a strong northwest wind (not off the ocean).  It had been blowing hard northwest for a number of days prior to the storm.  The amount of the white flakey material left after the snow melted off my snow blower is pretty significant.  A friend of my wife has a cousin who works in a lab and can test it to see what it is.  

 

It does look like salty residue but the fact that others near the ocean don't see that... I've seen a lot of snow melt but never seen a white residue.

Anything around you that would put particulates in the air?

[HIPPYVALLEY]

Could be many things. Lots of metal salts are white.

[dryslot]

Dried sea foam.

[ineedsnow]

4 minutes ago, dryslot said:

Dried sea foam.

he's inland 20 miles

[LongBeachSurfFreak]

7 minutes ago, dryslot said:

Dried sea foam.

I lived literally on the beach for years during one of the snowiest periods ever on Long Island and never saw anything like that. 
My guess is it something for the soil that’s concentrating on the front of the snow blower.

[ineedsnow]

efflorescence? 

[dryslot]

4 hours ago, Dano62 said:

Maybe I should just forget about the lab, bag it up, and sell it!

Looking back at your original post, Do you have a gravel driveway?

[Dano62]

2 hours ago, dryslot said:

Looking back at your original post, Do you have a gravel driveway?

Paved driveway, pretty rural/recreational area, no industrial activity anywhere nearby.  Our road is a private paved road that only gets plowed (no salting/sanding).  Even the public road that our road connects to only gets plowed and sanded (no salt).  My wife and I often won't go anywhere for days, so it's not like road salt is getting transferred in.  Also, I only use the snow blower on a paved walkway and the upper part of our driveway (places I can't really get at with my snow plow).

Not really into the conspiracy theory stuff, but it does make me wonder if they're putting shit in the air.  Cloud seeding isn't exactly a well kept secret.

[40/70 Benchmark]

On 4/11/2024 at 7:03 AM, Ginx snewx said:

Yea with all these long fetch easterly and South easterly winds salt is uplifted easily 20 miles. Boston area is famous for salt nuclei adding to snow amounts.

Salty CJ.

[dendrite]

13 hours ago, ineedsnow said:

efflorescence? 

This

[Baroclinic Zone]

It’s leaching out of the concrete. As stated it’s efflorescence. 
A concrete sealer would help this.

[dendrite]

I get some around my potted plants that I keep in the basement every winter. 

[cleetussnow]

Looks like leaching of some sort - but that it only happens with snow is odd.  Maybe somehow the snow and frozen ground surfaces it.