Wind gusts of up to 54 mph hit DeKalb and surrounding areas Wednesday afternoon.

NIU meteorologist Gilbert Sebenste said the heavy winds are normal for this time of the year.

“It’s part of the transition from fall to winter, and happens every year,” Sebenste said. “It doesn’t happen a lot, but it does happen every year.”

Sebenste said the high winds should end sometime around midnight Thursday.

Throughout today, there will be moderately high winds of 30 to 40 mph, he said.

High winds have affected more than just the DeKalb area.

“Winds have been reported in the area from up to 52 mph in Sterling, 55 mph in LaSalle, 52 mph at O’Hare International Airport and 56 mph in Morris,” Sebenste said.

He said the winds could cause brown-outs to the DeKalb area. Brown-outs include either a power outage for a couple of seconds or a dimming of lights.

According to a representative from ComEd, there were no power outages reported in DeKalb. ComEd did say that 46,000 customers were without power Wednesday night.

DeKalb police hadn’t reported any major wind damage as of press time.