Minding Ag's Business

A springtime storm last week in Illinois made national headlines once again: The National Weather Service issued a dust storm warning on May 16 for the Chicago metropolitan area for the first time.

As for the magnitude of the dust storm, the NWS Chicago office said the last time was May 10, 1934, in the heart of the Dust Bowl.

The NWS Chicago office explained after the most recent event that the only other time it has issued dust storm warnings for the Chicago area was May 7, 2023: That was six days after a dust storm caused a fatal pile-up on I-55 in central Illinois.

On May 16, 2025, Chicago's residents were advised to seek shelter and avoid roads due to low visibility. Accidents racked up on major interstates flowing in and out of the city. High winds scattered freshly fluffed topsoil from central Illinois all the way to Lake Michigan.

NWS meteorologists described the day's weather as a unique combination of very dry air aloft that caused intense downbursts ahead of a line of thunderstorms, a type of storm called a "haboob."

"The dust storm was caused by strong winds originating out of a cluster of severe thunderstorms moving across central Illinois. These strong winds picked up dust as they swept across dry farmland, which quickly amassed into an expansive dust plume along and behind the leading edge of the thunderstorm outflow winds," explained the NWS office. "Visibility dropped to near zero and winds gusted over 60 mph within the worst of dust storm, including in Chicago." (https://www.weather.gov/…)

The silly-sounding uniqueness of the haboob weather phenomenon is driving the narrative this year, but Illinois residents will recall a similar storm on May 1, 2023, where eight people died when more than 70 cars piled up on both sides of I-55 outside of Springfield, Illinois. "The dust originated from freshly tilled and planted farm fields and was kicked up by wind gusts of 35 to 45 mph. Winds increased further during the day, peaking at 54 mph at the Springfield airport," NWS reported at the time. (https://www.weather.gov/…)

There was also a dust storm on May 31, 1985, that reduced visibility in downtown Chicago to 4 miles, as well as caused a deadly pileup of vehicles near Marengo, Illinois, according to NWS.

Illinois interstates were shut again in spring of 2024. Both times, blowing dust from fields made headlines well beyond the state's borders.

As for May 16, 2025, high wind warnings already were out before noon in parts of the Midwest, and some highways already had "blowing dust" and "high wind warnings" flashed in electronic messages to warn drivers for most of the day.

In Nebraska, high wind warnings alerted people to winds gusting up to 60 mph that could make travel difficult, especially with reduced visibility. The city of North Bend disappeared in the dust, and water from irrigation equipment flew sideways instead of down to the new crop.

The high winds have continued to hit the Midwest during planting time. Across the state in South Dakota from overnight into the morning of May 19, local storm reports emerged of non-thunderstorm wind gusts ranging from 50 mph in the west to 75 mph in parts of central and eastern South Dakota.

Even with the windy, dusty conditions, some farmers could still be spotted planting.

When the dust storm happened in Illinois in 2023, I examined the question of whether farmers can be held responsible in a court of law if dust from their fields caused an accident. It's highly unlikely, and you can read that discussion here: https://www.dtnpf.com/….

The second time it happened (https://www.dtnpf.com/…), I also reported that USDA granted money to study contributing factors to the Illinois dust storm. The results were announced in April, and while they couldn't point to substantial evidence indicating strong springtime winds, they did say that drier-than-usual soils likely contributed, as has the growing use of high-speed equipment and vertical tillage.

"One option is to reduce the number of passes across a field with tillage equipment, including on corn stalks," said Kevin Brooks, commercial agriculture educator with Illinois Extension. The other is to eliminate fall tillage of soybean stubble.

You can read more of the findings here: https://extension.illinois.edu/….

To see the DTN story about how weather and agricultural practices contributed to the May 1, 2023, dust storm go here: https://www.dtnpf.com/….

DTN/Progressive Farmer Associate Content Manager Elaine Shein contributed to this report.

Katie Dehlinger can be reached at katie.dehlinger@dtn.com

Follow her on social platform X at @KatieD_DTN

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