Windblown dirt from Illinois farm fields caused Illinois dust storm, expert explains
Now that the dust has settled, many are wondering just how and why such an out-of-the-ordinary weather phenomenon happened.
The dust blanketed downtown Chicago last Friday — leaving people with filthy cars and with big questions on social media.
"A dust Strom in Illinois? I don't know," said Ana Ibarra in a TikTok video. "I feel like in my 29 years of life, I've never heard of a dust storm in Illinois."
The dust that hit Chicago was windblown from farm fields in Central Illinois. Video shot by University of Illinois Extension farm management educator Kevin Brooks along Interstate 74 showed motorists cautiously pulling over before driving into near-blackout conditions.
"Yes, it was dry. Yes, it was windy," Brooks said. "But those winds weren't that unusual."
Brooks has been cautioning the farming community about some of the factors that contribute to such powerful dust storms.
"What's changed in the last 10 years is the speed of farming," he said.
Brooks said the severity of dust storms is increasing, and can be traced back to technological advances in farm machinery and the speed of tilling soil — which leaves fields bare and dirt loose.
"It creates a powder, and if you put powder in your hand and blew it, you'd have powder all over the place," said Brooks, "and that's what's happening with the dust storm."
Not only are dust storms a risk to air quality — they can also be deadly. In 2023, eight people were killed when dust from farm fields blew onto I-55 near Springfield, causing dozens of cars to pile up.
As for this most recent dust storm, Brooks said it is significant that dust made its way all the way to the city.
"With those winds, I found it absolutely amazing that it could do that," he said.
Brooks, who also manages farms, admits that it can be hard to get farmers to change their ways — especially when it comes to their bottom line. But he encourages farmers to consider reducing or even eliminating tilling, and also to consider adding cover crops to help the soil.
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