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Blowing dust prompts the issuance of the first Dust Storm Warning on record for the Chicago metro area

By Scott Bachmeier •

1-minute daytime GOES-19 True Color RGB images + nighttime Dust RGB images, from 2130 UTC on 16 May to 0200 UTC on 17 May [click to play animated GIF | MP4]

1-minute Mesoscale Domain Sector GOES-19 (GOES-East) daytime True Color RGB images created using Geo2Grid (above) showed blowing dust (shades of tan) — lofted by strong southerly thunderstorm outflow winds with gusts as high as 60-70 mph — as it moved northward across northeastern Illinois and northwestern Indiana (and eventually southern Lake Michigan and far southwestern Lower Michigan) during the afternoon and early evening hours on 16 May 2025. After sunset, Dust RGB images tracked the airborne dust (brighter shades of magenta) as it continued to move farther northward across southwestern Lower Michigan — surface visibility restrictions over that area after sunset were generally 4-5 miles, briefly dropping to 2.5 miles at Benton Harbor (KBEH) at 0102 UTC on 17 May .

Plots of Wind Barbs and Peak Wind Gusts greater than 50 kts along with Ceiling/Visibility (below) showed the northward progression of strongest winds — which began around 2100-2200 UTC with thunderstorm outflow peak gusts of 60 kts at Champaign (KCMI) at 2104 UTC, 53 kts at Decatur (KDEC) at 2055 UTC and 51 kts at Bloomington/Normal (KBMI) at 2153 UTC — and lower visibility (1/4 mi at KBMI from 2153-2200 UTC, and later dropping to 1/4 mi at Chicago/Midway KMDW from 2340-2345 UTC and then 1/4 mi at South Bend, Indiana KSBN at 0020 UTC).

Hourly plots of Surface Wind Barbs (white) and Ceiling/Visibility (cyan), along with 30-minute Peak Wind Gusts greater than 50 kts (red) [click to play MP4 animation]

Plots of 15-minute METAR Surface Reports along with Dust Storm Warning polygons across the greater Chicago area (below) included the first Dust Storm Warning on record that included the Chicago metro area.

Plots of 15-minute METAR Surface Reports, along with Dust Storm Warning polygons (light beige) and nearshore Gale Warning polygons (magenta) across the greater Chicago area [click to play MP4 animation]

A cursor sample of the Chicago O’Hare (KORD) METAR Surface Report at 0051 UTC on 17 May (below) listed the unusual combination of a thunderstorm with light rain (-TSRA) and blowing dust (BLDU). Plots of GLM Flash Points at 0045 UTC did show an isolated lighting flash just northwest of KORD.

Cursor sample of the Chicago O’Hare (KORD) METAR Surface Report (cyan) at 0051 UTC, along with GLM Flash Points (white) at 0045 UTC on 17 May [click to enlarge]

A Pilot Report east of Chicago Aurora Municipal Airport (KARR) at 0003 UTC on 17 May (below) indicated that the blowing dust was restricting the Flight Visibility to 1 statute mile at an altitude of 2400 ft (and the vertical visibility was 1700 ft during descent to Aurora). In a plot of surface report data from KARR, ceilometer data at 0002 UTC depicted the base of the dense dust layer aloft at an altitude 2300 ft (the surface visibility was 1 mile at that time).

Cursor sample of a Pilot Report (orange) over Illinois at 0003 UTC on 17 May [click to enlarge]

About 1.5 hours later, a Pilot Report over southern Lake Michigan at 0132 UTC (below) indicated that the Flight Visibility was 5 statute miles at an altitude of 4000 ft.

Cursor sample of a Pilot Report (orange) over Lake Michigan at 0132 UTC on 17 May [click to enlarge]

Categories: Air quality, Aviation, Geo2Grid, GLM, GOES-19, Lightning, Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images