The Dust Bowl was a period of severe dust storms that struck the Great Plains of the United States and Canada during the 1930s, particularly in the southern plains in Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Colorado and New Mexico. Years of drought combined with the deep ploughing of native grassland, which had held the soil in place, left the land bare, and strong winds carried the topsoil away in huge black clouds. The worst storm, on 14 April 1935, called Black Sunday, darkened the sky across the region. Tens of thousands of families left their farms, many moving west to California, an exodus described in John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath. The federal government created the Soil Conservation Service and promoted new farming methods.
Before and after
- 1930Salt March
- 1930Founding of São Paulo FC
- 1930Founding of KFC
- c. 1930sComfort woman
- from 1930 to 1936Dust Bowl
- 1930Population transfer in the Soviet Union
- 20 January 1930Birth of Buzz Aldrin
- 20 January 1930Founding of Bank for International Settlements
- 23 January 1930Birth of Derek Walcott
More in Earth & climate
- 1916Establishment of Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park
- 8 July 1916Establishment of Acadia National Park
- 26 February 1929Establishment of Grand Teton National Park
- 19311931 China floods
- 15 June 1934Establishment of Great Smoky Mountains National Park
- 14 April 1935Black Sunday and the Dust Bowl
The era
This moment belongs to the Modern era (1914 CE to 1945 CE), world wars and a changing world. You can also browse everything in the 20th century.