How did the Dust Bowl affect the Great Plains?
The 1930's Dust Bowl Drought. climatic events in the history of the United States was the "Dust Bowl" drought which devastated the United States central states region known as the Great Plains (High Plains). The Dust Bowl all but dried up an already depressed American economy in the 1930's creating millions of dollars in damages.
What happened in the Dust Bowl in 1930?
The 1930's Dust Bowl Drought. The Dust Bowl was not only one of the worst droughts in United States history, but is generally thought of as the worst and most prolonged disaster in American history. The effects of the "Dust Bowl" drought devastated the United States central states region known as the Great Plains (or High Plains).
What was the worst drought in US history?
Updated March 06, 2017. The Dust Bowl was not only one of the worst droughts in United States history, but is generally thought of as the worst and most prolonged disaster in American history.
What caused the Great Plains to dry up in the 1930s?
The jet stream normally flows westward over the Gulf of Mexico and then turns northward pulling up moisture and dumping rain onto the Great Plains. During the 1930s, this low level jet stream weakened, carrying less moisture, and shifted further south. The Great Plains land dried up and dust storms blew across the U.S.
What was the drought in the Great Plains called?
Results of a Dust Storm, Oklahoma, 1936. Between 1930 and 1940, the southwestern Great Plains region of the United States suffered a severe drought. Once a semi-arid grassland, the treeless plains became home to thousands of settlers when, in 1862, Congress passed the Homestead Act.
Was there a drought in the 1930s?
Although the 1930s drought is often referred to as if it were one episode, there were at least 4 distinct drought events: 1930–31, 1934, 1936, and 1939–40 (Riebsame et al., 1991). These events occurred in such rapid succession that affected regions were not able to recover adequately before another drought began.
What caused the drought in 1930?
First changes in tropical sea surface temperatures created a drought. Poor land use practices then led to exposure of bare soil followed by wind erosion and dust storms. The dust storms interacted with radiation to make the drought worse and move it northward increasing the potential for further wind erosion.
What was the worst year of the Dust Bowl?
Black Sunday refers to a particularly severe dust storm that occurred on April 14, 1935 as part of the Dust Bowl in the United States. It was one of the worst dust storms in American history and it caused immense economic and agricultural damage.
What was the worst drought ever?
Dust Bowl”The 1930s “Dust Bowl” drought remains the most significant drought—meteorological and agricultural—in the United States' historical record.
What was the worst drought in the world?
The worst famine caused by drought was in northern China in 1876-79, when between 9 and 13 million people are estimated to have died after the rains failed for three consecutive years.
Why was the Dust Bowl called the Dirty Thirties?
If you've ever wondered why the 1930s are called the “Dirty Thirties,” it's because of massive dust storms that defined the decade. The Dust Bowl was the perfect storm of poorly calculated federal land policies, changes in regional weather, and the economic devastation of the Great Depression.
Did the Dust Bowl caused the Great Depression?
The era became known as the legendary Dust Bowl. The Dust Bowl brought ecological, economical and human misery to America during a time when it was already suffering under the Great Depression. While the economic decline caused by the Great Depression played a role, it was hardly the only guilty party.
Why was the West called the Dust Bowl?
The Dust Bowl was the name given to the drought-stricken southern plains region of the United States, which suffered severe dust storms during a drought in the 1930s. As high winds and choking dust swept the region from Texas to Nebraska, people and livestock were killed and crops failed across the entire region.
What finally ended the Dust Bowl?
Although it seemed like the drought would never end to many, it finally did. In the fall of 1939, rain finally returned in significant amounts to many areas of the Great Plains, signaling the end of the Dust Bowl.
Could the Dust Bowl Been Prevented?
Unfortunately, the Dust Bowl could have been avoided if the settlers had recalled the dry history of the area, had used different farming methods, and had not overplowed and overgrazed the land.
What was the average temperature during the Dust Bowl?
The "Dust Bowl" years of 1930-36 brought some of the hottest summers on record to the United States, especially across the Plains, Upper Midwest and Great Lake States....Heatwave of July 1936.LocationTemperatureDateRochester, MN108°FJuly 11 & 14La Crosse, WI108°FJuly 14Lancaster, WI108°FJuly 14Viroqua, WI108°FJuly 1313 more rows
How long did drought last in 1930's?
The 1930s was an exceptional time to be in the High Plains. The entire region, already a semi-arid climate to begin with, endured extreme drought for almost a decade. Over the 11-year span from 1930-1940, a large part of the region saw 15% to 25% less precipitation than normal.
How long did the drought last during the Great Depression?
The drought came in three waves: 1934, 1936, and 1939–1940, but some regions of the High Plains experienced drought conditions for as many as eight years.
Did the drought cause the Great Depression?
Extreme drought conditions returned in 1936, 1939 and 1940. Walter Schmitt calls this the "double whammy" of drought and depression. The drought made the Depression worse, especially in the Great Plains. The "Great" Depression was a national and international disaster, but the Plains were hardest hit.
Why was the Dust Bowl called the Dirty Thirties?
If you've ever wondered why the 1930s are called the “Dirty Thirties,” it's because of massive dust storms that defined the decade. The Dust Bowl was the perfect storm of poorly calculated federal land policies, changes in regional weather, and the economic devastation of the Great Depression.
What was the worst drought in the United States?
Updated May 28, 2019. The Dust Bowl was not only one of the worst droughts in United States history, but is generally thought of as the worst and most prolonged disaster in American history. The effects of the "Dust Bowl" drought devastated the United States central states region known as the Great Plains (or High Plains).
Why was the Great Plains considered unsuitable for pioneer settlement and agriculture?
Known as the "Great American Desert" to early European and American explorers, the Great Plains was first thought to be unsuitable for pioneer settlement and agriculture thanks to the lack of surface water.
Why was the Dust Bowl so bad?
The prolonged drought was made much worse by a fundamental misunderstanding of high plains environment, and the utilization of methods which called for a thin layer of dust to be purposefully exposed on the surface for large parts of the summer. Dust transmits influenza virus and measles and combined with the economic depression, the Dust Bowl period brought a significant increase in the number of measles cases, respiratory disorders and increased infant and overall mortality in the plains.
What was the impact of the Dust Bowl on the US?
Dust transmits influenza virus and measles and combined with the economic depression, the Dust Bowl period brought a significant increase in the number of measles cases, respiratory disorders and increased infant and overall mortality in the plains.
Why were wheat prices so high in the 1910s?
In the late 1910s, prices for wheat, the main Dust Bowl crop, were quite high due to demands for feeding people during World War I. Farmers used emerging tractor technologies to work the land and although tractors lowered labor costs and allowed the farmers to work larger acreages of land, the higher capital costs required for tractors resulted in mortgages on farms. The Federal government became involved in farm credit during the 1910s, making mortgages easier to obtain.
What is the climate of the Plains?
The Plains region of the United States has a semi-arid, or steppe climate. The next driest to desert climates, semi-arid climates receive less than 20 inches (510 mm) of rainfall per year which makes drought a serious weather hazard.
Why did crop prices drop in the 1920s?
But in the 1920s, crop prices dropped as production increased, and reached minimum levels after the crash of the economy in 1929. Low crop prices were paired with poor harvests due to the drought but exacerbated by infestations of rabbits and grasshoppers.
What was the role of the oceans in the 1930s dust bowl drought?
Abnormal sea surface temperatures (SST) in the Pacific and the Atlantic Ocean played a strong role in the 1930s dust bowl drought. Scientists used SST data acquired from old ship records to create starting conditions for the computer models.
What was the worst climatic event in the history of the United States?
NASA scientists have an explanation for one of the worst climatic events in the history of the United States, the "Dust Bowl" drought, which devastated the Great Plains and all but dried up an already depressed American economy in the 1930's.
What did Siegfried Schubert find?
The study found cooler than normal tropical Pacific Ocean surface temperatures combined with warmer tropical Atlantic Ocean temperatures to create conditions in the atmosphere that turned America's breadbasket into a dust bowl from 1931 to 1939. The team's data is in this week's Science magazine.
What conditions created the dust bowl?
The study found cooler than normal tropical Pacific Ocean surface temperatures combined with warmer tropical Atlantic Ocean temperatures to create conditions in the atmosphere that turned America's breadbasket into a dust bowl from 1931 to 1939. The team's data is in this week's Science magazine.
Did the Dust Bowl model run on its own?
They let the model run on its own, driven only by the observed monthly global sea surface temperatures. The model was able to reconstruct the Dust Bowl drought quite closely, providing strong evidence that the Great Plains dry spell originated with abnormal sea surface temperatures.
When was the Great Plains drought?
Historical climate records for the Great Plains only reach back to about 1900, and at only a few locations. Tree-ring data have been used to reconstruct the earlier drought history of the region, and these data illustrate a pattern of periodic and extended droughts, sometimes continuing for several decades. For example, H. E. Weakly identified a drought period of thirty-six years from 1631 to 1667 from an analysis of tree rings in western Nebraska.
What are the social impacts of the Great Plains?
Social impacts mainly involve public safety, health, conflicts between water users, reduced quality of life, and inequity in the distribution of impacts and disaster relief. Many of the impacts that are considered economic and environmental have social components as well. The economic hardships of the 1930s drought, for example, caused significant population out-migration from and massive flows of aid into the Great Plains.
What are the goals of drought planning?
The goal of such plans is to improve the effectiveness of response and preparedness efforts through improved monitoring and early warning; impact and vulnerability assessment; and mitigation programs. These plans are also directed at improving coordination and building partnerships within state government agencies and between state and provincial, local, and federal governments. Most Great Plains states currently have drought plans in place. Plans recently developed by New Mexico and Nebraska are the most progressive because they incorporate mitigation actions as a key component of the planning process. Formal drought plans do not exist in the Prairie Provinces.
What is the result of a natural reduction in the amount of precipitation received over an extended period of time?
Drought is the consequence of a natural reduction in the amount of precipitation received over an extended period of time, usually a season or more in length. Drought is never the result of a single cause but, rather, the result of many causes that are synergistic in nature. Prolonged droughts in the Great Plains occur when large-scale anomalies in atmospheric circulation patterns become established and persist for periods of months, seasons, or longer. Impacts are complex, vary on spatial and temporal scales, and depend on the societal context of the drought. The impacts of drought in the Great Plains consequently differ from those experienced in other portions of the United States and Canada.
How does drought affect the economy?
Many economic impacts occur in broad agricultural and agriculturally related sectors, because these sectors are dependent on surface and subsurface water supplies . In addition to crop and livestock production losses, drought is associated with increases in insect infestations, plant disease, and wind erosion. The incidence of wildfires increases substantially during extended droughts, which in turn places human and wildlife populations at greater risk. Income loss is another indicator used to assess drought, because so many sectors are affected. Reduced income for farmers has a ripple-down effect as their purchasing power is reduced, leaving small-town businesses without customers.
How can we reduce the vulnerability of the Great Plains?
Much has been done to lessen societal vulnerability to drought in the Great Plains. Irrigation, conservation tillage practices, soil evaporation reduction measures, snow management, and irrigation scheduling have all proved effective in stabilizing agricultural production in a region exposed to the vagaries of weather.
What are the environmental effects of drought?
Environmental losses are the result of damages to plant and animal species, wildlife habitat, and air and water quality; forest and range fires; degradation of landscape quality; loss of biodiversity; and soil erosion. Some of the effects are short-term, and conditions quickly return to normal after the drought. Other environmental effects linger for some time or may even become permanent. For example, short-term effects might entail a reduction of fish or wildlife species or impacts on air quality. Permanent or long-term effects could be reduced soil productivity from soil erosion or an extinction of fish or wildlife species.
What was the name of the drought-stricken Southern Plains region of the United States that suffered severe dust storm?
New Deal Programs. Okie Migration. Dust Bowl in Arts and Culture. SOURCES. The Dust Bowl was the name given to the drought-stricken Southern Plains region of the United States, which suffered severe dust storms during a dry period in the 1930s.
How much topsoil was blown off the Great Plains during Black Sunday?
As many as three million tons of topsoil are estimated to have blown off the Great Plains during Black Sunday. An Associated Press news report coined the term “Dust Bowl” after the Black Sunday dust storm.
What Caused the Dust Bowl?
The Dust Bowl was caused by several economic and agricultural factors, including federal land policies, changes in regional weather, farm economics and other cultural factors. After the Civil War, a series of federal land acts coaxed pioneers westward by incentivizing farming in the Great Plains.
What was the impact of the Dust Bowl on the economy?
The Dust Bowl intensified the crushing economic impacts of the Great Depression and drove many farming families on a desperate migration in search of work and better living conditions.
How many acres of land were lost in the Dust Bowl?
By 1934, an estimated 35 million acres of formerly cultivated land had been rendered useless for farming, while another 125 million acres—an area roughly three-quarters the size of Texas—was rapidly losing its topsoil. Regular rainfall returned to the region by the end of 1939, bringing the Dust Bowl years to a close.
How long did the Dust Bowl last?
The Dust Bowl, also known as “the Dirty Thirties,” started in 1930 and lasted for about a decade, but its long-term economic impacts on the region lingered much longer.
How did dust affect people?
Dust worked its way through the cracks of even well-sealed homes, leaving a coating on food, skin and furniture. Some people developed “dust pneumonia” and experienced chest pain and difficulty breathing. It’s unclear exactly how many people may have died from the condition.
What is the Great Plains?
Great Plains. Great Plains, major physiographic province of North America. The Great Plains lie between the Rio Grande in the south and the delta of the Mackenzie River at the Arctic Ocean in the north and between the Interior Lowland and the Canadian Shield on the east…. History at your fingertips.
How many people fled the Plains?
…whole area into a vast Dust Bowl and destroyed crops and livestock in unprecedented amounts. As a result, some 2.5 million people fled the Plains states, many bound for California, where the promise of sunshine and a better life often collided with the reality of scarce, poorly paid work as…
What is the Dust Bowl poster?
Dust Bowl: USDA poster. A U.S. Department of Agriculture poster from the Dust Bowl era urging farmers on the Great Plains to plant windbreaks (also known as shelterbelts) to halt erosion. U.S. Department of Agriculture. Get a Britannica Premium subscription and gain access to exclusive content. Subscribe Now.
What were the shelterbelts in the Dust Bowl?
The wind erosion was gradually halted with federal aid. Windbreaks known as shelterbelts—swaths of trees that protect soil and crops from wind—were planted, and much of the grassland was restored. By the early 1940s the area had largely recovered. Dust Bowl: windbreaks.
What was the song that characterized the Dust Bowl?
Their plight was characterized in songs such as “Dust Bowl Refugee” and “Do Re Mi” by folksinger Woody Guthrie, an Oklahoman who had joined the parade of those headed west in search of work. That experience was perhaps most famously depicted in John Steinbeck’s novel The Grapes of Wrath(1939).
How many trees were planted in the 1935 shelterbelt?
A swath of three-year-old trees forming a windbreak (also known as a shelterbelt), part of a 1935 federal project that saw the planting of some 200 million trees in a 100-mile wide (160-km), 1,000-mile (1,600-km) long barricade meant to halt the wind erosion that had decimated a section of the Great Plains known as the Dust Bowl.
Who was the woman who left the Dust Bowl?
Dorothea Lange —Farm Security Administration/Office of War Information/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (reproduction no. LC-USF34-T01-016453-E) Thousands of families were forced to leave the Dust Bowl at the height of the Great Depression in the early and mid-1930s.
What are the causes of the Great Plains drought?
The Great Plains region of the United States is susceptible to drought of all kinds including meteorological/climatological, agricultural, hydrological, and socioeconomic. Drought conditions in the region span varying spatial and temporal scales and the causes include: 1) certain synoptic conditions that favor drought such as mid-tropospheric ridging over the drought-affected area and a weak low-level jet; 2) sea surface temperature anomalies and associated teleconnections; 3) land-atmosphere coupling; and 4) anthropogenic effects. While drought can span as few as a couple of months, the most severe droughts can occur at the decadal scale such as the 1930s Dust Bowl, the worst drought in recent history from a societal standpoint. Such droughts in the Great Plains have widespread impacts on agriculture, water resources, human health, and the economy.
How does drought affect the Great Plains?
The impacts of drought in the Great Plains impact human health as well. When drought occurs, water levels in the affected region drop to below normal levels and cause the body of water to heat faster and reach higher than normal temperature values. Such conditions lower dissolved oxygen levels and yield increases in disease and bacteria growth within the water. As such, humans that come in contact with this untreated water, such as people involved in outdoor recreational water activities, have a heightened risk of becoming infected [ 32 ]. During the recent, intense drought across the southern portion of the Great Plains in 2011 [ 23 ], numerous outbreaks of toxic blue-green algae occurred in ponds, lakes, and reservoirs across the region. Additionally, during drought conditions, soil and the atmospheric conditions are dry leading to increased suspension of dust and particulates. Increased particulate matter can aggravate the lungs and airways, potentially causing asthma and respiratory infections such as bronchitis and pneumonia [ 23 ]. Perhaps the most iconic impact of the Dust Bowl drought period of the 1930’s was the human suffering caused by the ingestion of dust and subsequent dust pneumonia. Such health impacts can eventually lead to death. In the case of the severe drought of 1988 in the Great Plains, an estimated 5000 - 10,000 deaths were attributed to the drought conditions including those caused by severe heat, which can be exacerbated by high sensible heat fluxes that often occur during drought periods [ 28 ]. Unfortunately, because the frequency and duration of heat waves may increase across the region [ 15 ], the public health challenge will persist in an increasingly growing population base across the Great Plains.
How did dust affect the 1930s?
Soil moisture was at an extreme minimum during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s and Cook et al. [ 27] noted that the amount of dust emission in 1935 alone was estimated at millions of metric tons of topsoil were subject to wind erosion. Because dust reduced the net radiation that at the surface, it further reduced evaporation rates and thus precipitation. Their study demonstrated that the inclusion of dust loading versus SST forcing alone were better able to reproduce the severity of the drought and the region affected by drought. This implies that record-setting dust loading worked as a positive feedback mechanism to the drought, and is an extreme version of land-atmosphere coupling.
Why are the Great Plains experiencing heat waves?
Atmospheric warming due to increases in greenhouse gases may increase the frequency and severity of drought in the Great Plains [ 15 ]. Most heat waves in the Great Plains are caused by a positive, semi-stationary 500 mb height anomaly that sets up in the north-central Great Plains [15,16,44]. Subsidence associated with this anomaly creates drying and warming and can also cut off the flow of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico [15,44]. Parallel climate model results indicate that positive 500 mb height anomalies are more likely to occur over the Great Plains as surface temperatures increase, thus increasing the risk of severe drought and heat wave events [ 15 ].
How does drought affect agriculture?
As drought persists, agriculture is impacted, and water resources for human consumption and recreation become stressed and limited. As a result, large economic impacts can occur. A climatological study of extreme weather and climate events from 1980-2003 by Ross and Lott [ 28] demonstrated that the monetary losses from the 1988 drought event alone were estimated at $61.6 billion ($78.6 billion USA adjusted to 2012). Much of this loss can be attributed to the impacts sustained by agriculture and related industries. Further, of all the extreme weather events that took place between 1980 and 2003, the 10 major droughts/heat waves that occurred accounted for $147 billion, or 42% of the total weather-related loss. Of those 10 major droughts/heat waves, six occurred in the Great Plains and accounted for $131.7 billion, or 91% of the total monetary losses from drought. Such losses were subsequently passed on to the consumers as price increases for staple food products, and for the severe drought of 1988, consumers saw products including cereals and breads rise in price by nearly 20% [ 36 ].
Why does drought occur more often?
Because drought refers to a lack of water to supply to a particular demand, an increase in demand would be comparable to a decrease in supply. The population of the Great Plains has been growing in recent decades and more people require increasing amounts of water, which means drought can occur more often in the presence of humans and competing demands for agriculture, industry, and consumptive use [ 28 ].
How does precipitation help drought?
For drought to end, precipitation is required to remove not only the precipitation deficit but also to alleviate agricultural drought and restore soil moisture, streams, and lakes to near normal conditions. In any given region, the amount of precipitation will vary in as related to the annual precipitation and soil moisture cycles. Karl et al. [ 37] noted that drought is assumed to have ended when Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI) is equal to −0.5. As an example for the Great Plains, to end the devastating droughts of the 1930’s and 1950’s in South-Central Nebraska, a total of seven times the average 2-month precipitation total would have been needed to end the droughts during the winter months, and three times the average 2-month precipitation total would have been needed during spring and early summer. This significant difference is because in drier months such as winter, soil moisture conditions are lower to begin with and so less precipitation is needed to return conditions to normal. Whereas for a drought in the wet season, soil moisture content is usually higher and so more precipitation is required for conditions to recover to their normal levels [ 37 ]. Unfortunately, within the Great Plains region, due to the great deficits of precipitation that need to be overcome, drought tends to persist for a greater length of time than in any other part of the US.
How much money did the Great Plains lose during the 1980s drought?
Losses of as much as $16 billion have been reported for the 1980 drought in the US Great Plains (Karl and Quayle 1981), and a figure of $2.5 billion has been estimated for the 1984 drought on the Canadian prairies (Sweeney 1985). Amounts such as these would seem to support investment in irrigation equipment, but such direct economic considerations may not always satisfy environmental concerns. If the investment is made, there may be a tendency to introduce irrigation into areas not particularly suited to arable agriculture, rather than have equipment lying idle. This may create no problems in the short term, but, during the longer periods of drought common on the plains, these areas would be the first to suffer. If no investment is made, in times of drought there may be an attempt to offset the lower yields by bringing more land under cultivation. Whatever the decision, the net result is that additional land
What are the problems faced by farmers on the Great Plains?
Stretching from western Texas in the south, along the flanks of the Rocky Mountains to the Canadian prairie provinces in the north, they form an extensive area of temperate grassland with a semi-arid climate. They owe their aridity in part to low rainfall, but the situation is aggravated by the timing of the precipitation, which falls mainly in the summer months, when high temperatures cause it to be rapidly evaporated (see Figure 3.11). Contingent drought, brought about by the variable and unpredictable nature of the rainfall, is characteristic of the area—consecutive years may have precipitation 50 per cent above normal or 50 per cent below normal—and this has had a major effect on the settlement of the plains. Averages have little real meaning under such conditions, and agricultural planning is next to impossible. The tendency for wet or dry years to run in series introduces further complexity. Strings of dry years during the exploration of the western plains in the
How is dry farming used?
Dry farming is based on the preservation of several years of precipitation to be used for the production of one crop. The land is deep ploughed and allowed to lie fallow for several years. Deep ploughing provides a reservoir for the rain that falls, and various techniques are used to reduce losses by evapotranspiration. Perhaps only a quarter of the total precipitation is made available to the plants in this way, but in Kansas and Nebraska grain yields may double after a three- to four-year fallow (More 1969). Obviously, this is only possible if rain falls in the first place. It might be necessary to counter the lack of precipitation by introducing water from elsewhere in the hydrologic cycle, and making it available through direct irrigation. Most of the major rivers on the plains have been dammed and the underlying aquifers tapped to provide the moisture required. Grandiose schemes, such as the North American Water and Power Alliance (NAWAPA), which would bring water to the plains from the Hudson Bay and Arctic watersheds in northern Canada, have also been suggested (Schindler and Bayley 1990). While this may be ideal for agriculture, it is not without its environmental problems. The larger projects have been roundly criticized for their ability to cause continental scale environmental disruption, but even local or regional schemes can be harmful. The rivers downstream from dams experience reduced flow, which produces physical changes in the stream channel and disrupts the balance in the aquatic environment. Return flow from irrigated fields contains fertilizer and pesticide residues, which alter the chemical composition of the water. The classic example of such changes is the Colorado River, which at its mouth is a mere trickle of highly salinated water, flowing in a channel much larger than the present volume requires (Turk 1980).
Is there a guarantee against drought in Africa?
To some extent it did, but it is also quite clear that economic and technological advancement is no guarantee against drought. The net effects may be lessened, but the environmental processes act in essentially the same way, whatever the stage of development.