Dust Storm in Central Cook County, Illinois

Visibility was reduced to one quarter mile for 12 minutes at Midway Airport and to one half mile for an additional 12 minutes. Visibility was reduced to one half mile at O'Hare Airport for 9 minutes, while light rain was falling with a thunderstorm.

Visibility near zero was reported in Burbank, along with a large tree limb blown down. Visibility around one quarter mile was reported in Alsip and Berwyn. A photo showed significantly reduced visibility in the south loop of Chicago.

An area of thunderstorms moved across east central Illinois during the afternoon of May 16th producing damaging convective wind gusts across southern Ford and southern Iroquois Counties. These high winds created a dust storm that raced north across northeast Illinois during the late afternoon and early evening of May 16th. Visibilities were near zero in many areas with wind gusts of up to 55 to 65 mph. The worst conditions lasted 15 to 30 minutes at any one location and then gradually improved. A large tree was blown down onto a house in Piper City causing significant structural damage. A few thunderstorms also developed across far northern Illinois producing isolated large hail.