Editing Dust Bowl (section)

==Drought and dust storms==
[[File:Dust storm in Spearman,Texas, Wea01422.jpg|thumb|A [[dust storm]]; [[Spearman, Texas]], April 14, 1935]]
[[File:Dust bowl, Texas Panhandle, TX fsa.8b27276 edit.jpg|thumb|Heavy black clouds of dust rising over the Texas Panhandle, Texas, c. 1936]]
[[File:U.S. Weather Bureau Surface Analysis at 7-00 am CST on April 15, 1935.jpg|thumb|U.S. Weather Bureau Surface Analysis at 7:00 am CST on April 15, 1935, just after one of the most severe dust storms]]
After fairly favorable climatic conditions in the 1920s with good rainfall and relatively moderate winters,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag/time-series/us/105/00/tavg/6/03/1895-2014?base_prd=true&firstbaseyear=1896&lastbaseyear=1967&trend=true&trend_base=10&firsttrendyear=1968&lasttrendyear=2014&filter=true&filterType=binomial |title=Northern Rockies and Plains Average Temperature – October to March |publisher=[[National Climatic Data Center]] |access-date=September 17, 2014 |archive-date=October 6, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006155918/http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag/time-series/us/105/00/tavg/6/03/1895-2014?base_prd=true&firstbaseyear=1896&lastbaseyear=1967&trend=true&trend_base=10&firsttrendyear=1968&lasttrendyear=2014&filter=true&filterType=binomial |url-status=live }}</ref> which permitted increased settlement and cultivation in the Great Plains, the region entered an unusually dry era in the summer of 1930.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag/time-series/us/105/00/pcp/12/12/1895-2013?base_prd=true&firstbaseyear=1895&lastbaseyear=1966&trend=true&trend_base=10&firsttrendyear=1967&lasttrendyear=2013&filter=true&filterType=binomial |title=Northern Rockies and Plains Precipitation, 1895–2013 |publisher=[[National Climatic Data Center]] |access-date=September 17, 2014 |archive-date=October 6, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006082942/http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag/time-series/us/105/00/pcp/12/12/1895-2013?base_prd=true&firstbaseyear=1895&lastbaseyear=1966&trend=true&trend_base=10&firsttrendyear=1967&lasttrendyear=2013&filter=true&filterType=binomial |url-status=live }}</ref> During the next decade, the northern plains suffered four of their seven driest calendar years since 1895, Kansas four of its 12 driest,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag/time-series/us/14/00/pcp/12/12/1895-2013?base_prd=true&firstbaseyear=1895&lastbaseyear=1966&trend=true&trend_base=10&firsttrendyear=1967&lasttrendyear=2013&filter=true&filterType=binomial |title=Kansas Precipitation 1895 to 2013 |publisher=[[National Climatic Data Center]] |access-date=September 17, 2014 |archive-date=October 6, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006171009/http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag/time-series/us/14/00/pcp/12/12/1895-2013?base_prd=true&firstbaseyear=1895&lastbaseyear=1966&trend=true&trend_base=10&firsttrendyear=1967&lasttrendyear=2013&filter=true&filterType=binomial |url-status=live }}</ref> and the entire region south to [[West Texas]]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag/time-series/us/41/01/pcp/12/12/1895-2013?base_prd=true&firstbaseyear=1895&lastbaseyear=1966&trend=true&trend_base=10&firsttrendyear=1967&lasttrendyear=2013&filter=true&filterType=binomial |title=Texas Climate Division 1 (High Plains): Precipitation 1895–2013 |publisher=[[National Climatic Data Center]] |access-date=September 17, 2014 |archive-date=October 6, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141006075024/http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/cag/time-series/us/41/01/pcp/12/12/1895-2013?base_prd=true&firstbaseyear=1895&lastbaseyear=1966&trend=true&trend_base=10&firsttrendyear=1967&lasttrendyear=2013&filter=true&filterType=binomial |url-status=live }}</ref> lacked any period of above-normal rainfall until record rains hit in 1941.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://journals.ametsoc.org/downloadpdf/journals/mwre/69/12/1520-0493_1941_069_0360_twoitu_2_0_co_2.pdf |title=The Weather of 1941 in the United States |publisher=[[National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration]] |access-date=September 14, 2023}}</ref> When severe drought struck the Great Plains region in the 1930s, it resulted in erosion and loss of topsoil because of farming practices at the time. The drought dried the topsoil and over time it became [[friable]], reduced to a powdery consistency in some places. Without indigenous grasses in place, the plains' high winds picked up the topsoil and created massive [[dust storm]]s.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/838 |title=Areas of Intense Drought Distress, 1930–1936 |author1=Cronin, Francis D |author2=Beers, Howard W |work=Research Bulletin |date=January 1937 |pages=1–23 |publisher=U.S. Works Progress Administration / Federal Reserve Archival System for Economic Research (FRASER) |access-date=October 15, 2014 |format=PDF |series=Research Bulletin (United States. Works Progress Administration. Division of Social Research) |archive-date=August 10, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180810205544/https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/838 |url-status=live }}</ref> The persistent dry weather caused crops to fail, leaving the plowed fields exposed to wind erosion. The Great Plains' fine soil eroded easily and was carried east by strong continental winds.

The first recorded dust storm occurred on September 14, 1930. It was seen more as a meteorological anomaly at the time as it was unlike anything else ever recorded. Unlike a sand storm, the cloud was black or gray (not beige or red) and rolled across the ground. Inside, visibility dropped to the point where people couldn't see their hand in front of their face. It also generated a tremendous amount of [[static electricity]], enough to short a car or knock someone out if they shook someone else's hand.{{Sfn|Egan|2006|p=88}}

On November 11, 1933, a very strong dust storm stripped topsoil from desiccated [[South Dakota]] farmlands in one of a series of severe dust storms that year. Beginning on May 9, 1934, a strong, two-day dust storm removed massive amounts of Great Plains topsoil in one of the worst such storms of the Dust Bowl.<ref>{{cite journal |url=https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/834 |title=The Drought of 1934 |first=Philip G. |last=Murphy |journal=A Report of the Federal Government's Assistance to Agriculture |date=July 15, 1935 |publisher=U.S. Drought Coordinating Committee / Federal Reserve Archival System for Economic Research (FRASER) |access-date=October 15, 2014 |format=PDF |archive-date=August 10, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180810204955/https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/834 |url-status=live }}</ref> The dust clouds blew all the way to [[Chicago]], where they deposited {{convert|12|e6lb|t|abbr=off}} of dust.<ref name="Surviving the Dust Bowl">{{cite web |title=Surviving the Dust Bowl |website=[[PBS]] |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/transcript/dustbowl-transcript/ |year=1998 |access-date=September 19, 2011 |archive-date=February 18, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170218045709/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/transcript/dustbowl-transcript/ |url-status=dead}}</ref> Two days later, the same storm reached cities to the east, such as [[Cleveland]], [[Buffalo, New York|Buffalo]], [[Boston]], [[New York City]], and [[Washington, D.C.]]<ref>Stock, Catherine McNicol (1992). ''Main Street in Crisis: The Great Depression and the Old Middle Class on the Northern Plains'', p. 24. University of North Carolina Press. {{ISBN|0-8078-4689-9}}.</ref> Monuments like the [[Statue of Liberty]] and the [[United States Capitol]] were blotted out. Dust worked its way into even the most sealed homes, leaving a coating on food, skin, and furniture.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-04-24 |title=Dust Bowl: Causes, Definition & Years |url=https://www.history.com/topics/great-depression/dust-bowl |access-date=2024-01-23 |website=HISTORY |language=en}}</ref> That winter (1934–35), red snow fell on [[New England]].

On April 14, 1935, known as "[[Black Sunday (storm)|Black Sunday]]", the day started out clear and warm, with temperatures in the 80's and wind completely still, causing many people to let down their guard. However, a diving [[cold front]] from [[Canada]] kicked up mountains of dust in the turbulent air in the Dakotas and plowed south across the Great Plains at 60&nbsp;mph.<ref>{{Cite web |last=US Department of Commerce |first=NOAA |title=The Black Sunday Dust Storm of April 14, 1935 |url=https://www.weather.gov/oun/events-19350414 |access-date=2025-01-21 |website=www.weather.gov |language=EN-US}}</ref> Before the line, it would still be very still with the only sign of the advancing storm being the snapping of static electricity and the screeching of flocks of birds and rabbits streaming south. The storm caught many people off guard as unlike every other storm, the winds didn't pick up until the leading edge arrived. Once inside, the temperature plummeted by 30 degrees and the winds immediately increased to 60&nbsp;mph.{{Sfn|Egan|2006|p=204-206}} The dust fell straight down instead of sideways like the others and was also so dense that there was practically no visibility and one couldn't even light a lamp as there wasn't enough oxygen in the storm to keep it going.{{Sfn|Egan|2006|p=208-210}} Denver-based [[Associated Press]] reporter Robert E. Geiger happened to be in [[Boise City, Oklahoma]], that day. His story about Black Sunday marked the first appearance of the term ''Dust Bowl'';<ref>{{cite news |last1=Geiger |first1=Robert |title=If It Rains ... |url=https://tile.loc.gov/storage-services/service/ndnp/dlc/batch_dlc_1freud_ver01/data/sn83045462/0028060141A/1935041501/0214.pdf |access-date=6 December 2024 |work=The Evening Star |agency=Associated Press |issue=33,221 |publisher=W.D. Wallach & Hope |date=April 15, 1935 |location=Washington, D.C. |page=2 cols. 4–5}}</ref> it was coined by Edward Stanley, [[Kansas City]] news editor of the Associated Press, while rewriting Geiger's news story.<ref name="srh.noaa.gov"/><ref name="Mencken 1979 206"/>

{{blockquote|Spearman and Hansford County have been literaly [sic] in a cloud of dust for the past week. Ever since Friday of last week, there hasn't been a day pass but what the county was beseieged [sic] with a blast of wind and dirt. On rare occasions when the wind did subside for a period of hours, the air has been so filled with dust that the town appeared to be overhung by a fog cloud. Because of this long {{sic|seige|hide=y}} of dust and every building being filled with it, the air has become stifling to breathe and many people have developed sore throats and dust colds as a result.|''Spearman Reporter''|March 21, 1935<ref>{{cite news |last=Miller |first=Bill |date=March 21, 1935 |title=Nearly week siege of dust storm in county |work=Spearman Reporter |location=Spearman, Texas |hdl=10605/99636 |url=https://collections2.swco.ttu.edu/bitstream/handle/20.500.12255/122974/Spearman_1935_03_21.pdf?sequence=2&isAllowed=y}}</ref>}}

Much of the farmland was eroded in the aftermath of the Dust Bowl. In 1941, a Kansas agricultural experiment station released a bulletin that suggested reestablishing native grasses by the "hay method". Developed in 1937 to speed up the process and increase returns from pasture, the "hay method" was originally supposed to occur in Kansas naturally over 25–40 years.<ref name="hornbeck" />

After much data analysis, the causal mechanism for the droughts can be linked to ocean temperature anomalies. Specifically, Atlantic Ocean [[sea surface temperature]]s appear to have had an indirect effect on the general atmospheric circulation, while Pacific sea surface temperatures seem to have had the most direct influence.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Schubert |first1=Siegfried D. |last2=Suarez |first2=Max J. |last3=Pegion |first3=Philip J. |last4=Koster |first4=Randal D. |last5=Bacmeister |first5=Julio T. |date=2004-03-19 |title=On the Cause of the 1930s Dust Bowl |url=https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1095048 |journal=Science |language=en |volume=303 |issue=5665 |pages=1855–1859 |doi=10.1126/science.1095048 |issn=0036-8075 |pmid=15031502 |bibcode=2004Sci...303.1855S |s2cid=36152330 |access-date=June 6, 2021 |archive-date=June 6, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210606103520/https://science.sciencemag.org/content/303/5665/1855 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Seager |first1=Richard |last2=Kushnir |first2=Yochanan |last3=Ting |first3=Mingfang |last4=Cane |first4=Mark |last5=Naik |first5=Naomi |last6=Miller |first6=Jennifer |date=2008-07-01 |title=Would Advance Knowledge of 1930s SSTs Have Allowed Prediction of the Dust Bowl Drought? |journal=Journal of Climate |language=EN |volume=21 |issue=13 |pages=3261–3281 |doi=10.1175/2007JCLI2134.1 |bibcode=2008JCli...21.3261S |issn=0894-8755 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="whatwelearned">{{Cite journal |title=What we learned from the Dust Bowl: lessons in science, policy, and adaptation |journal=Population and Environment |date=June 2014 |volume=35 |issue=4 |pages=417–440 |first1=Robert A |last1=McLeman |first2=Juliette |last2=Dupre |first3=Lea |last3=Berrang Ford |first4=James |last4=Ford |first5=Konrad |last5=Gajewski |first6=Gregory |last6=Marchildon |doi=10.1007/s11111-013-0190-z |pmid=24829518 |pmc=4015056|bibcode=2014PopEn..35..417M }}</ref>