Here's why the 1930s Great Plains Dust Bowl drought-disaster hit so hard and lasted so long, and why it could happen again

James PasleyJun 12, 2023, 18:57 IST

A farm about to be engulfed by a dust storm in the 1930s.Corbis/Getty

In the early 20th century, farmers across the Great Plains harnessed new technology to cash in on a huge demand for wheat.
But over-farming led to the removal of prairie grasses which had kept the topsoil in place.
For years, the region was bombarded by monster dust storms called "black blizzards" that sometimes buried entire houses in grit.

For almost 10 years, the Great Plains became a desert wasteland.

During the 1930s, after an intensive period of over-farming, dust storms regularly wreaked havoc, blanketing towns and farms in grit, destroying crops and making people sick.

The drought and storms led to one of the largest mass migrations in a short period of time in US history.

When it was over, better farming practices were instituted to ensure it never happened again. But even so, in 2020, new research found that the heat waves which caused the dust bowl were more than twice as likely to occur as in the 1930s.

Here's what it was like and why it could happen again.

It all began with wheat. In the late 19th and early 20th century, thousands of farmers moved to the Great Plains, a stretch of arid land once covered in native grasses that stretched across much of middle America from Texas to Montana.

A group of farmers with their farm equipment in a wheat field, circa 1925.Kirn Vintage Stock/Corbis/Getty

It all began with wheat. In the late 19th and early 20th century, thousands of farmers moved to the Great Plains, a stretch of arid land once covered in native grasses that stretched across much of middle America from Texas to Montana.

Demand for crops, wheat in particular, was high in the 1920s due to World War I. Farmers harnessed new technology like tractors to get the most from their land. At the same time, the weather provided the region with plenty of rain.

A farmer in a wheat field in 1926.Corbis/Getty

Demand for crops, wheat in particular, was high in the 1920s due to World War I. Farmers harnessed new technology like tractors to get the most from their land. At the same time, the weather provided the region with plenty of rain.

Everything came to a head in the early 1930s when the Great Depression hit alongside a severe drought. Suddenly the demand for wheat had disappeared and the overworked land was ruined.

Cattle left to graze in ruined fields in North Dakota in 1936.Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group/Getty

Everything came to a head in the early 1930s when the Great Depression hit alongside a severe drought. Suddenly the demand for wheat had disappeared and the overworked land was ruined.

Beginning in 1931, massive dust and dirt storms called "black blizzards" or "dusters" monstered the land and the people who lived there.

A dust storm in Kansas in 1937.Library of Congress/Getty

In 1932, fourteen dust storms were reported. By 1933 it was up to 38. The storms rolled through towns "like bowling balls," according to a report by the New York Times.

A dust storm approaches Stratford, Texas in 1935.Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group/Getty

When a dust storm hit, day turned to night.

Dust clouds covering the Prairies in 1935.University History Archive/UIG/Getty

Farms were buried in dust…

A farm on the Great Plains buried in dust in 1935.Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group/Getty

Livestock was killed…

Dead livestock during the drought in Kansas in 1934.Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone/Getty

And farmers were forced into bankruptcy when their prayers for rain went unanswered.

Henry Wetzel, his wife and their ten children pray for rain on a farm in North Dakota in 1934.Walter Ranzini/NY Daily News Archive/Getty

The once beautiful plains became a wasteland.

A farmer raises his fence to stop it being buried in sand in Oklahoma in 1936.Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group/Getty

Some people tried to carry on as best they could.

A lone man walks through a dust storm in Dakota in 1935.Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group/Getty

But the dust was toxic. Locals who breathed it in dealt with asthma, influenza, bronchitis and terrible coughs. Hundreds of people ended up dying from the "brown plague," which was basically dust-induced pneumonia.

A young boy covers his nose and mouth against brown sand in the Dust Bowl, circa 1930.Bettmann/Getty

But the dust was toxic. Locals who breathed it in dealt with asthma, influenza, bronchitis and terrible coughs. Hundreds of people ended up dying from the "brown plague," which was basically dust-induced pneumonia.

The storms were relentless and appeared, from the ground, inescapable.

A large dust cloud behind a truck traveling on a highway through Colorado in 1936.PhotoQuest/Getty

As if things weren't bad enough, the period brought masses of grasshoppers and jackrabbits, which finished off much of what remained of the crops.

A farmer stands on farmland destroyed by drought and grasshoppers in Arkansas.Heritage Art/ Heritage Images/Getty

A car full of refugees from the Dust Bowl look for work in San Francisco, California in 1933.

A car full of refugees from the Dust Bowl look for work in San Francisco, California in 1933.Herbert/Getty

It wasn't just the Great Plains that were struggling. In 1934, more than 75% of the US was hit by a drought. The drought hurt 27 states. Here's Chicago blanketed under a dust cloud several miles long in May of that year.

A blanket of dust, several miles thick, enveloping Chicago in 1934.UPI/Bettmann Archive/Getty

It wasn't just the Great Plains that were struggling. In 1934, more than 75% of the US was hit by a drought. The drought hurt 27 states. Here's Chicago blanketed under a dust cloud several miles long in May of that year.

But the Great Plains experienced the worst of it. In 1934 and 1936, the region suffered two of the most intense heatwaves in US history.

Farmer and his two sons during a dust storm in Oklahoma in 1936.University History Archive/ Universal Images Group/Getty

Under President Franklin D. Roosevelt the government had been working to help the region during these years.

President Franklin Roosevelt talks to a family devastated by the drought in Colorado in 1936.Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone/Getty

But the drought and the storms continued. In 1935, the "Black Sunday" dust storm hit the High Plains. It rolled across the country to cities on the East Coast and the Atlantic Ocean. It is considered the worst storm of the period.

Kansas City blanketed in dust during a dust storm in 1935.Bettmann/Getty

But the drought and the storms continued. In 1935, the "Black Sunday" dust storm hit the High Plains. It rolled across the country to cities on the East Coast and the Atlantic Ocean. It is considered the worst storm of the period.

One AP reporter who was trapped in a car overnight after failing to outrun it coined the term "dust bowl." He wrote, "Three little words — achingly familiar on a western farmer's tongue — rule life today in the dust bowl of the continent … 'if it rains.'"

Sand piled up in front of a farm in Oklahoma in 1936.Buyenlarge/Getty

One AP reporter who was trapped in a car overnight after failing to outrun it coined the term "dust bowl." He wrote, "Three little words — achingly familiar on a western farmer's tongue — rule life today in the dust bowl of the continent … 'if it rains.'"

Black Sunday triggered a national response. Within a fortnight, Congress had called soil erosion "a national menace." It established a new service focused on soil practices, including advocating for rotating crops, terracing, and contour plowing.

A dust storm approaches Springfield, Colorado in 1937.AP

Black Sunday triggered a national response. Within a fortnight, Congress had called soil erosion "a national menace." It established a new service focused on soil practices, including advocating for rotating crops, terracing, and contour plowing.

In 1937, the government also launched Shelterbelt Project, a planting project which went for 12 years and cost about $75 million. The aim was to plant up 100 miles of plains between Texas and Canada.

Officials planting the first tree of the Shelterbelt Project in Oklahoma.Bettmann/Getty

In 1937, the government also launched Shelterbelt Project, a planting project which went for 12 years and cost about $75 million. The aim was to plant up 100 miles of plains between Texas and Canada.

By 1938, due to all of the work that had been done to the land, air-borne soil was down by 65%. The following year in 1939 it finally rained.

A farm worker and his family in Oklahoma in 1939.Photo 12/Universal Images Group/Getty

From then on, farming practices were generally improved. Farmers knew to irrigate their crops so they could handle droughts better.

Young homesteaders work on irrigation ditches in 1949.Jon Brenneis/Getty

And it seemed like the Dust Bowl was a period of US history that no one would ever forget—with iconic photos of the struggle, including this one by Dorothea Lange of Florence Owens Thompson—but that would never be repeated.

Florence Owens Thompson, 32, a poverty-stricken migrant mother with three young children, gazes off into the distance in 1936.Library of Congress

And it seemed like the Dust Bowl was a period of US history that no one would ever forget—with iconic photos of the struggle, including this one by Dorothea Lange of Florence Owens Thompson—but that would never be repeated.

Even so, in 2020, new research found—despite all of the improved farming practices—that the heat waves which caused the dust bowl were more than twice as likely to occur as in the 1930s, due to global warming.

A wheat field ruined by drought in 1955.Carl Iwasaki/Getty

Even so, in 2020, new research found—despite all of the improved farming practices—that the heat waves which caused the dust bowl were more than twice as likely to occur as in the 1930s, due to global warming.

Farmers on the Great Plains now rely on water from underground aquifers including the Ogallala Aquifer—one of the world's biggest aquifers—for their irrigation. Up to 46% of irrigated farmland in the area use it.

A sorghum farmer in Kansas at work in 2015, who uses the aquifer for his farm.Travis Heying/Wichita Eagle/Tribune News Service/Getty

Farmers on the Great Plains now rely on water from underground aquifers including the Ogallala Aquifer—one of the world's biggest aquifers—for their irrigation. Up to 46% of irrigated farmland in the area use it.

US Geological Survey hydrologist Virginia McGuire, who monitors the Ogallala Aquifer, told Yale Environment 360 that water levels in some areas were less than half the size they were 100 years ago.

Two wheat fields in Kansas in 2015. The left field died due to no irrigation, the field on the right is irrigated by the Ogallala Acquifer.Travis Heying/Wichita Eagle/Tribune News Service/Getty

US Geological Survey hydrologist Virginia McGuire, who monitors the Ogallala Aquifer, told Yale Environment 360 that water levels in some areas were less than half the size they were 100 years ago.

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Here's why the 1930s Great Plains Dust Bowl drought-disaster hit so hard and lasted so long, and why it could happen again

It all began with wheat. In the late 19th and early 20th century, thousands of farmers moved to the Great Plains, a stretch of arid land once covered in native grasses that stretched across much of middle America from Texas to Montana.

Demand for crops, wheat in particular, was high in the 1920s due to World War I. Farmers harnessed new technology like tractors to get the most from their land. At the same time, the weather provided the region with plenty of rain.

Everything came to a head in the early 1930s when the Great Depression hit alongside a severe drought. Suddenly the demand for wheat had disappeared and the overworked land was ruined.

Beginning in 1931, massive dust and dirt storms called "black blizzards" or "dusters" monstered the land and the people who lived there.

In 1932, fourteen dust storms were reported. By 1933 it was up to 38. The storms rolled through towns "like bowling balls," according to a report by the New York Times.

When a dust storm hit, day turned to night.

Farms were buried in dust…

Livestock was killed…

And farmers were forced into bankruptcy when their prayers for rain went unanswered.

The once beautiful plains became a wasteland.

Some people tried to carry on as best they could.

But the dust was toxic. Locals who breathed it in dealt with asthma, influenza, bronchitis and terrible coughs. Hundreds of people ended up dying from the "brown plague," which was basically dust-induced pneumonia.

The storms were relentless and appeared, from the ground, inescapable.

As if things weren't bad enough, the period brought masses of grasshoppers and jackrabbits, which finished off much of what remained of the crops.

A car full of refugees from the Dust Bowl look for work in San Francisco, California in 1933.

It wasn't just the Great Plains that were struggling. In 1934, more than 75% of the US was hit by a drought. The drought hurt 27 states. Here's Chicago blanketed under a dust cloud several miles long in May of that year.

But the Great Plains experienced the worst of it. In 1934 and 1936, the region suffered two of the most intense heatwaves in US history.

Under President Franklin D. Roosevelt the government had been working to help the region during these years.

But the drought and the storms continued. In 1935, the "Black Sunday" dust storm hit the High Plains. It rolled across the country to cities on the East Coast and the Atlantic Ocean. It is considered the worst storm of the period.

One AP reporter who was trapped in a car overnight after failing to outrun it coined the term "dust bowl." He wrote, "Three little words — achingly familiar on a western farmer's tongue — rule life today in the dust bowl of the continent … 'if it rains.'"

Black Sunday triggered a national response. Within a fortnight, Congress had called soil erosion "a national menace." It established a new service focused on soil practices, including advocating for rotating crops, terracing, and contour plowing.

In 1937, the government also launched Shelterbelt Project, a planting project which went for 12 years and cost about $75 million. The aim was to plant up 100 miles of plains between Texas and Canada.

By 1938, due to all of the work that had been done to the land, air-borne soil was down by 65%. The following year in 1939 it finally rained.

From then on, farming practices were generally improved. Farmers knew to irrigate their crops so they could handle droughts better.

And it seemed like the Dust Bowl was a period of US history that no one would ever forget—with iconic photos of the struggle, including this one by Dorothea Lange of Florence Owens Thompson—but that would never be repeated.

Even so, in 2020, new research found—despite all of the improved farming practices—that the heat waves which caused the dust bowl were more than twice as likely to occur as in the 1930s, due to global warming.

Farmers on the Great Plains now rely on water from underground aquifers including the Ogallala Aquifer—one of the world's biggest aquifers—for their irrigation. Up to 46% of irrigated farmland in the area use it.

US Geological Survey hydrologist Virginia McGuire, who monitors the Ogallala Aquifer, told Yale Environment 360 that water levels in some areas were less than half the size they were 100 years ago.