Illinois dust storms: What's behind Chicago's bad weather, and where is the storm coming from?

A dust storm hit Normal, Illinois, causing the NWS to issue a warning for McLean County. Powerful winds reached 60 mph, leading to near zero visibility.

In Normal, Illinois, a wall of dust rolled toward a subdivision just before 5 PM, prompting the National Weather Service (NWS) to issue a dust storm warning for McLean County that remained in effect until 6:45 PM Areas in and around Chicago were hit with sudden walls of dust, carried by powerful wind gusts.

A wall of dust swept through Normal, Illinois, prompting a NWS warning.(X)

Images and videos of the storm quickly spread online, showing eerie scenes that looked more like the Arizona desert than the Midwest.

The dust storm spread rapidly across central and east-central Illinois, driven by wind gusts reaching up to 60 miles per hour. Emergency responders reported “near zero visibility,” and by late afternoon, a serious multi-vehicle accident had been confirmed along Interstate 74 in DeWitt County.

“Near 0 visibility in places with several accidents reported on I-55. I-55, south of Bloomington and I-74 near Leroy are CLOSED with closure expansions anticipated. DO NOT TRAVEL unless absolutely necessary, until winds subside,” warned the sheriff’s office, per NBC News Chicago.

Where is the Illinois dust storm coming from?

Officials noted that a “wall of dust” stretching from El Paso, Illinois, to Otterbein, Indiana, was moving northeast at a fast clip. Dust was being whipped up from dry farmland in central Illinois, following a burst of thunderstorms earlier in the day that loosened topsoil.

Warnings quickly expanded to include several counties in the Chicago area, including Kendall, northern LaSalle, northwestern Will, southern DeKalb, and even northwest Indiana’s Porter and Lake counties. Later, Kane, Cook, DuPage, and southeastern DeKalb counties were added to the warning zone.

The NWS also issued a blowing dust advisory until 9 PM for McHenry, Kane, Kankakee, Grundy, DeKalb, LaSalle, and Kendall counties.

“It’s racing north pretty quickly,” Zachary Yack, a meteorologist with the NWS office in Romeoville, told the Chicago Tribune. “This is unusual for us.”