The severe 1930s drought and dust storms across North America’s Great Plains were called the Dust Bowl.
The disaster was caused by a combination of unusually dry weather, high winds, and extensive plowing that removed native prairie grasses. When drought dried the exposed soil, powerful winds lifted huge clouds of dust and carried them across farms, towns, and distant cities.
The worst conditions occurred during the 1930s, especially in parts of Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico. Many families abandoned farms and migrated west, including to California, in search of work. The Dust Bowl became one of the most serious environmental and economic crises of the United States’ Great Depression era.
It was not a single storm or one year of bad weather. The term describes both the affected region and the wider period of drought, erosion, dust storms, crop failures, and displacement. Soil-conservation programs later promoted practices such as contour plowing, crop rotation, and planting windbreaks.