Photo:screenshot from Sina Weibo

  

Beijing was showered by muddy rain Monday night, leaving car owners on Tuesday morning to think they had somehow driven through a mud puddle before racing off to a car wash where they had to wait in long lineups.

The owner of a car wash in Beijing's Chaoyang district told the Global Times that around 30 cars lined up for a wash in the morning. "We usually see only five to 10 customers on week days during the epidemic, but today is a really busy day," he said.

Another car wash owner in Haidian district said he had a 40 percent increase in customers due to last night's muddy rain. 

Beijing was struck by a heavy sandstorm on Monday afternoon, and that evening, with the air still yellow with sand, a light rain fell over most of the city.

A Beijing resident, surnamed Chen, told the Global Times on Tuesday she had to wait in a line of 20 cars before she could get her car washed.

Some ride-hailing drivers had to wash their own cars before setting off to pick up passengers.

The muddy rain was generated after sand-carrying cold air from North China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Hebei Province met moisture-laden air in Beijing, Zhang Mingying, a Beijing-based meteorologist, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Zhang noted that muddy rain is not uncommon when spring-time sandstorms occur.