The Dust Bowl was a period of severe dust storms that greatly damaged the ecology and agriculture of the American and Canadian prairies during the 1930s.

Oct 27, 2009 · The Dust Bowl refers to the drought-stricken southern plains of the United States, which suffered severe dust storms during the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Mar 27, 2025 · Dust Bowl, name for both the drought period in the Great Plains that lasted from 1930 to 1936 and the section of the Great Plains of the United States that extended over southeastern Colorado, southwestern Kansas, the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma, and northeastern New Mexico.

Nineteen states in the heartland of the United States became a vast dust bowl. With no chance of making a living, farm families abandoned their homes and land, fleeing westward to become migrant laborers.

The term Dust Bowl was coined in 1935 when an AP reporter, Robert Geiger, used it to describe the drought-affected south central United States in the aftermath of horrific dust storms.

Great dust storms spread from the Dust Bowl area. The drought is the worst ever in U.S. history, covering more than 75 percent of the country and affecting 27 states severely.

Nov 21, 2020 · The Dust Bowl was a significant event that took place during the Great Depression. It would hurt many Americans in a time of desperate need.

Sep 14, 2023 · The drought, winds and dust clouds of the Dust Bowl killed important crops (like wheat), caused ecological harm, and resulted in and exasperated poverty. Prices for crops plummeted below subsistence levels, causing a widespread exodus of farmers and their families out the affected regions.

The Dust Bowl was one of the worst droughts and perhaps the worst and most prolonged disaster in United States history. It affected Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and Colorado, known as the Dust Bowl states, as well as parts of other surrounding states (map below), covering a total of 100 million acres.

Mar 26, 2025 · The events leading to the Dust Bowl started with the Homestead Act of 1862. The federal legislation gave 160 acres of public land to any adult who was willing to live on and cultivate that ...