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Wall Street Crash -

On October 29, 1929, the Wall Street Crash signaled the beginning of the Great Depression. While corporate America buckled almost immediately as the greatest stock market crash in the history of the United States unfolded, it was pretty much business as usual for US farmers way out west. But a little over 12 months later, all that changed.

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Drought and the 1930s -

The year 1931 saw a severe drought sweep across the Midwestern and Southern Plains regions of the United States.

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Carpeted with topsoil -

As winds picked up, brutal dust storms began to blow, shrouding the middle of the nation with eroded topsoil.

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Choking dust storms -

Huge volumes of choking dust were funneled across the region, from Texas to Nebraska.

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Killer winds -

The dust storms were ferocious in their intensity, killing dozens of people and decimating livestock.

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Farmland turned to desert -

Crops failed in Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, and other Plains states. Once fertile fields were left resembling one vast desert.

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Insect plague on a biblical scale -

The storms blew in plagues of grasshoppers. Any crops left standing were quickly devoured. Regiments of jackrabbits finished off anything the insects had missed.

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Environmental disaster -

A series of further droughts only exacerbated an already desperate situation. An environmental disaster was taking place.

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Land rendered useless -

Fourteen dust storms were reported in 1932. Millions of acres of formally cultivated land were rendered useless.

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Washington steps in -

On March 4, 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt took office as the 32nd president of the United States. With the enormity of the catastrophe not lost on Washington (Roosevelt famously quipped: "What the sun left, the grasshoppers took"), the Emergency Farm Mortgage Act allocated US$200 million for refinancing mortgages to help farmers facing foreclosure. In addition, the Farm Credit Act established a local bank and set up local credit associations.

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National crisis -

By 1934, the National Guard had been mobilized to assist with the extermination of insect and vermin numbers. But a new crisis was developing, that of widespread famine.

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Symbolic of the Great Depression -

People in the Midwest and South Plains regions were beginning to starve. Food was scarce, as was fresh water. This celebrated photograph of a poverty-stricken migrant mother with her children was taken by renowned photojournalist Dorothea Lange. It came to symbolize the Great Depression for many Americans.

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Dry and arid -

The end of 1934 witnessed around 35 million acres of once fertile farmland reduced to a fine powder. Other areas were also rapidly losing topsoil.

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The "Dust Bowl" -

And still the storms persisted. It was in 1935 that Associated Press reporter Robert Geiger coined the phrase "Dust Bowl" while describing conditions in the South Plains.

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Ecology ruined -

The drought by now was the worst in US history. The damage to the ecology and agriculture of the American prairies was incalculable.

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Health problems multiply -

As the Dust Bowl entered its fifth year, health problems suffered by those living in the affected regions increased exponentially. A fortunate few were able to afford dustbowl masks. The majority, however, were afflicted with a litany of respiratory disorders.

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Respiratory complaints -

Persistent coughing spasms and shortness of breath were common complaints. More serious were issues like asthma, bronchitis, fever, and flu brought on by tainted air.

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"Dust pneumonia" -

The real killer was "dust pneumonia." Induced by a toxic combination of dust, soil, and silt particles, this painful lung disease claimed scores of lives among the young, elderly, and already sick.

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Livestock decimated -

The precise number of livestock lost during the Dust Bowl is not documented, but it was significant. Estimates range in the hundreds of thousands.

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Wildlife catastrophe -

Cattle succumbed to thirst and starvation. Some even died due to the severity of the dust storms. Wildlife—birds, small mammals. etc.—also fell victim to the disaster.

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The great migration -

Farmers and landowners lost everything. Many families had no choice but to migrate in search of work and better living conditions.

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Millions move on -

In all, approximately 2.5 million people left the Dust Bowl states—Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, Nebraska, Kansas, and Oklahoma—during the 1930s. The exodus remains one of the largest migrations in American history. 

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No protection -

Those who sought sanctuary in Dust Bowl cities quickly realized that even concrete and steel provided little protection against sand and soil.

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"Black blizzards" -

In fact, in 1934 and 1935, colossal dust storms known as "black blizzards" reached as far as Chicago and cities along the East Coast, including Washington and New York.

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Dust Bowl reaches the east -

Here, two well-dressed female pedestrians are pictured on a near-deserted Michigan Avenue, each holding their heads down in protection against the blanket of dust that enveloped Chicago on May 11, 1934.

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Promise of help -

Under the New Deal programs, President Roosevelt established a number of measures to help alleviate the plight of poor and displaced farmers.

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Environmental degradation addressed -

The president also addressed the environmental degradation—soil erosion, for example—that had led to the Dust Bowl in the first place.

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At last, rainfall -

In 1939, rainfall finally brought an end to the drought, albeit resulting in widespread flash flooding. In the same year, America pulled itself out of the Great Depression.

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Could the Dust Bowl happen again? -

A nationwide economic depression coupled with extended drought, unusually high temperatures, poor agricultural practices, and the resulting wind erosion all conspired to create the Dust Bowl. But could the same thing happen today?

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Climate change -

In the 21st century, global warming and climate change are very real issues. Meanwhile, the geopolitical temperature is climbing alarmingly high.

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Global warning -

For more than eight decades, the Dust Bowl years were the hottest summers on record. That was until 2021, when average temperatures reached 74°F (23.3°C). 

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We've been warned -

The hottest summer on record in the US was through June 1-August 31, 2023. The same period also happened to be the Northern Hemisphere's hottest meteorological summer on record. Scientific studies predict Dust Bowl level temperatures are now two and a half times more likely to happen thanks to climate change and global warming.

Sources: (History) (National Drought Mitigation Center) (PBS) (Defenders of Wildlife)

See also: What can you do to help combat climate change? 

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