'Dirty rain' and Chicago's cornucopia of weather
Chicago had almost every weather event you can think of yesterday, while 'dirty rain' covered areas into Canada.
The EarthCam in Chicago saw a dust storm, severe thunderstorm, sunset and rainbow yesterday, then snow today. All in a day’s weather for the Windy City.
Chicago, known as the Windy City, experienced much more than wind on March 19. A variety of weather events between Wednesday afternoon and Thursday morning included a dust storm moving over the city around 4 p.m. followed by severe thunderstorms at 6 p.m. As the storms departed, they left behind a stunning sunset and rainbow.
By Thursday morning, the city was covered in snow once again. All in a spring day's weather for Chicago, and all caught on camera by the Earthcams in the city.
Chicago experienced a dust storm, severe thunderstorm, sunset, rainbow and snow in the last 24 hours. (Earthcam)
The dust storm that pulled dust from Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska was immediately followed by rain, causing dust to accumulate on cars after the rain dried up from Illinois through Indiana, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio and Ontario.
Dust (yellow) rides up into the Midwest storm on the afternoon of March 19, 2025, approaching Chicago. (NOAA/CIRA)
People posted pictures and videos of their dusty cars on social media, wondering what caused it.
"This your dust, NWS Goodland?" the National Weather Service (NWS) office in La Crosse, Wisconsin, posted on X, along with a photo of its muddy rain gauge.
This was at least the third time this month that a "dirty rain" event took place in the Great Lakes. The first occurred on March 7, when the muddy mess affected Ohio and western Pennsylvania, and again on March 14, when dust mixed with the rain in many of the same areas as March 19.
Dust on a car in Pittsburgh on March 7, 2025.
