The Dust Bowl: The Dirty Thirties

The Dust Bowl, also known as the Dirty Thirties, lasted for about a decade and was a period in time in which dirt clouds billowed over the Great Plains that afflicted over 75% of the country (Riney-Kehrberg 32). The Dust Bowl affected a section of the Great Plains that extended over to Colorado, Kansas, Texas, Oklahoma and Northeastern New Mexico. The Dust Bowl was both a manmade and natural disaster that received its name from the "bowl-shaped" area it covered. In the 1930 's the United States suffered severe dust storms as high winds and asphyxiated dust swept the region until the early 1930 's. The Dust Bowl was the inevitable result of people intentionally exploiting the grasslands to its fullest extent (Richardson). Because of the Homestead

The changes in the sea surface temperatures created shifts in the large-scale patterns and low level winds that reduced the normal supply of moisture and inhibited rainfall throughout the Great Plains (Deneke). Climatic conditions in the 1920 consisted of good rainfall and reasonable winters, which increased cultivation in the region and accumulated settlement (Deneke). At the same time, the federal government was encouraged the farmers that the Great Plains will provide the best profit, but they were wrong. It was until the early 1930 's that the disruption of climatic events fell apart and gave many false impressions. As soon as the temporary vital climate conditions fell apart vital fertile farms began turning into dust. It was not long until the heat took a toll on the what once was fine

This unusually wet period mistakenly led settlers to believe that the region 's climate had changed for the better. Farmers took notice that without the grass in place the fine soil easily eroded from heat. The persistent dry weather triggered failure for crops to grow because there wasn’t enough moisture necessary for seeds to sprout leading soil to dry up (History). If no seeds sprouted then the loose crumbled topsoil was impotent in fighting back against the bulk movement of air. Heat ways were then entitled to fry the what once was grassland into a fine-grained dust consistency, evidently leading to storms. A survivor from the Dust Bowl stated, "severe, extended drought and high winds easily blew my farms soil, leaving it useless and vulnerable, my hard work and future was destroyed in an instant" (Henderson). The unanchored topsoil then turned to tiny particles, in which continental winds billowed huge clouds that blackened the