This Is Not Snow

Think that's snow falling on that awesome double cab Toyota truck? Nope. It's actually ash from Klyuchevskaya Sopka, Russia's most active volcano. The 15,584 ft. tall volcano erupted last week, blanketing the town of Ust-Kamchatsk in ash.

Located on the Kamchatka Peninsula of Russia, active volcano Klyuchevskaya Sopka's last eruption left a 4cm thick ash coating on everything in the small town, including the cars and trucks of the people who live there. At the height of the ash fall visibility was reduced to 10-15m at best. Residents were warned to stay indoors or wear breathing masks for safety when going outside.

Having your car covered in 4cm of ash isn't just annoying; it's disastrous for paint jobs. Various experts on the subject seem to contradict each other on how to even deal with ash on your car. It seems that once ash has fallen on your car it takes a mixture of luck, skill and divine intervention to get it off again without doing any damage.

The main problem between ash and paint is in what the ash itself is made up of. Ash is primarily small pieces of glass, rock, or sand like substance which mixed with water easily affixes itself to paint as it is falling. Who would have thought having a car covered in scratches is another pitfall of living close to an active volcano?