Dust Bowl - Background Information
On Black Sunday, April 14, 1935, a wall of blowing sand hit the eastern Oklahoma panhandle around 4 PM. As one witness described the event: "...a great black bank rolled in out of the northeast, and in a twinkling when it struck Liberal, plunged everything into inky blackness, worse than that on any midnight, when there is at least some starlight and outlines of objects can be seen. When the storm struck it was impossible to see one's hand before his face even two inches away. And it was several minutes before any trace of daylight whatsoever returned." Liberal News, April 15, 1935. Much of the Black Sunday dust was finally deposited in the Atlantic Ocean.
One outcome of the Dust Bowl was a mass exodus from the Plains. Hundreds of thousands of Dust Bowl refugees headed for California and other states. Often called "Okies," because many were from Oklahoma, they found economic conditions in their new states difficult due to the Great Depression. In the years since the Dust Bowl, the plains states would recover, but writers such as Timothy Egan in the Worst Hard Times would caution those who might have forgotten these difficult lessons. For example, Egan discusses current overuse of the Ogallala Aquifer. Others, such as NASA climate scientists, suggest that climate variability may have played a big role in what took place in the Plains states during the 30s. In addition, historian Daniel Worster cautions that climate change could turn the Plains into a disaster area and is of the opinion that government and economic policies only add to the danger. (Chavez, 2009)
One outcome of the Dust Bowl was a mass exodus from the Plains. Hundreds of thousands of Dust Bowl refugees headed for California and other states. Often called "Okies," because many were from Oklahoma, they found economic conditions in their new states difficult due to the Great Depression. In the years since the Dust Bowl, the plains states would recover, but writers such as Timothy Egan in the Worst Hard Times would caution those who might have forgotten these difficult lessons. For example, Egan discusses current overuse of the Ogallala Aquifer. Others, such as NASA climate scientists, suggest that climate variability may have played a big role in what took place in the Plains states during the 30s. In addition, historian Daniel Worster cautions that climate change could turn the Plains into a disaster area and is of the opinion that government and economic policies only add to the danger. (Chavez, 2009)
Work Cited
Chavez, D. (2009, 01 01). ESSEA Courses. Retrieved 06 27, 2012, from Earth System Science Education Alliance: http://esseacourses.strategies.org/private/learner.module.php?course_id=414&coursemodule_id=979&cycle=C&cycle_label=6