Straight line winds, dust storm leave thousands in the dark
The area experienced another round of severe weather earlier this week, leaving thousands of homes without power.
The first round came on May 15 with the potential for severe storms. Although South Lake County didn’t experience any tornadoes, the storms brought straight line winds. The National Weather Service (NWS) recorded a maximum wind speed of 35 mph at O’Hare Airport with gusts of 51 mph. In Valparaiso, the NWS recorded maximum wind speeds of 39 mph and gusts up to 55 mph.
However, the winds caused widespread power outages throughout the Calumet Region. According to data obtained from the Northern Indiana Public Service Company (NIPSCO) at 11:22 p.m. April 15, there were a total of 85,651 households without power. Crown Point appeared to get hit the hardest, with NIPSCO reporting 13,488 without power. First United Methodist Church in Crown Point opened a cooling center for those impacted by the storm.
Gary wasn’t too far behind Crown Point, with 11,698 households without power.
Lowell had a total of 6,908 homes without power. There were 259 households in Cedar Lake that lost electrical services, and there were 246 homes in Shelby affected by the storms, according to NIPSCO.
Several area school districts were closed May 16 as a result of the storms, including Tri-Creek Community Schools, Crown Point Community Schools, Michigan City Area Schools, Lake Station Community Schools and Gary Community Schools. Merkley Elementary School and Warren Elementary School in Highland were closed.
As of 5:10 p.m. May 17, NIPSCO reported 8,338 total homes affected by the storms.
And then if it couldn’t get any stranger, a freak dust storm hit in the late afternoon hours of May 16, spreading across much of northern Indiana and Illinois. The NWS issued four warnings for the dust storm between 4:48 p.m. and 6:23 p.m.
The NWS said the dust storm developed near Bloomington, Illinois, moving northeast towards the Chicago Southland and the Calumet Region. The storm was caused by the strong winds from the thunderstorms moving across central Illinois, causing visibility to drop to close to zero in some locations.
There were only two dust storms recorded by the NWS in the Chicagoland area, which was two years ago on May 7. Prior to the 2023 incident, the last time a significant dust storm happened was during the Dust Bowl on May 10, 1934.
In Wheeler, a 55 mph gust was recorded by a private weather station on the leading edge of the dust storm at 6:39 p.m. Beverly Shores reported 51 mph gusts.
Chicago reported a 60 mph gust was recorded at O’Hare Airport, a 64 mph gust at Midway Airport, and a 78 mph gust at Navy Pier.