Thanks, Jean!

https://mrcc.purdue.edu/cliwatch/watch.htm#curMonths

Soilmoisture anomaly:

These maps sometimes take a day to catch up to incorporate the latest data(the bottom map is only updated once a week).

https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/Soilmst_Monitoring/US/Soilmst/Soilmst.shtml#

You can also see the pressure gradient below.

Pretty steep but winds were only gusting just above 40 mph. It was just a freaky combination of 

1. Moderately dry soils.

2. Moderately gusty CROSS winds. 

3. Farmers plowing bare fields to plant, which they usually only do during a brief time frame in the Spring, kicking up the dirt that got blown ACROSS a major highway.