Dust Storm Warnings in Central Illinois | May 4th, 2026

Strong southerly winds associated with an intense area of low pressure over the Great Lakes stirred up problems across central Illinois this afternoon. I speculate that near-surface winds may have been enhanced by outflow from dying storms across south-central Illinois, but nevertheless blustery winds and blowing dust were appropriately in the forecast early in the day from the National Weather Service forecast office in Central Illinois / Lincoln, IL.

Dust storm warnings were issued early in the afternoon near Decatur - Lincoln, IL and then expanded to the east toward Champaign-Urbana, and north toward Bloomington-Normal.

I had a loaded scheduled keeping me limited to a short radius around Champaign County and couldn't lay eyes on some of the bigger trouble spots reported across the area, but grabbed a little imagery from in and around Champaign-Urbana.

I put SKYDRONE up from home near downtown Urbana and could make out the brown horizon and some plumes of blowing dust. I had about an hour of free time between 5-6 PM and snuck out west of Champaign-Urbana and encountered a couple of dense plumes of blowing dust as southerly winds howled.

Here was the view from in town looking west. The State Farm Center and Memorial Stadium can be seen on the left, with much of the University of Illinois campus in the foreground with a big brown cloud of dust on the western horizon, moving from left to right in real-time: