I was just alerted to this thread.
I had basically the same dream in September.
I was in the city, I was slightly NW of Times Square, walking ona side street, I felt a sudden whoosh of air and debris come up behind me, then i fell forward, at the same time everything felt electrified, the air smelled metallic, my eyes were burning and my hair smelled funny.
Felt this enormous dread and felt very overheated inside.
I got up and started running towards the NY waterway ferry even though I knew it was a good 15 blocks away.
I looked at people around me and some were running, some looked to be in pain/shock, while some looked totally unaffected.
In my brain I kept seeing numbers running thru my head, I told myself it was October and was tryingto remember if it was the 19th 20th or 21st.
Sorry, but I don't think your dream sounds like justa n average dream.
There are some features, nuances which just seem toooo specific, tooooo 'alerting;' toooooo 'knowing.'
Not sure how to put it.
But I suspect you have had some warning dreams in your life before which have proven out. True?
If so, I suspect you have learned somewhat how to discrimminate between normal dreams and solid alerts.