an area of the U.S. Plains that included parts of Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico. The term was coined in the 1930s, when dry weather and high winds caused many dust storms throughout the United States, but particularly in this area.
a region subject to dust storms; especially the central region of United States subject to dust storms in the 1930s
the popular name for the approximately 150,000 square-mile-area (400,000-square-kilometer-area) in the southern portion of the Great Plains region of the United States. It is characterized by low annual rainfall, a shallow layer of topsoil, and high winds.
North Dakota, during the 30’s, was dealing with extreme drought conditions. With severe shortages of rain, and intense summer heat, crops failed and dust prevailed. Whatever the wind and heat didn’t destroy, swarms of locusts did. With the lack of cover in the fields, North Dakota’s landscape literally changed as the wind blew soil over roads and fields, leaving drifts of dust everywhere. The dryest year was in 1936, with the annual rainfall of 8.8 inches.
The term given to the area of the Great Plains including Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico that was most greatly affected during the Great Drought of the 1930's. Related term: drought
In the 1930s, the combination of long droughts and unscientific farming methods on the Great Plains created frequent dust storms that blew away valuable topsoil. Thousands of indebted farmers left this "dust bowl" to seek opportunities in the West
A name given, early in 1935, to the region in the south-central United States affected by drought and duststorms at that time. It included parts of five states: Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Texas, and Oklahoma. It resulted from a long period of deficient rainfall combined with loosening of the soil by destruction of the natural vegetation. The name has since been extended to similar regions in other parts of the world.
The Dust Bowl was the result of a series of dust storms in the central United States and Canada from 1931 to 1939http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2004/0319dustbowl.html, caused by decades of inappropriate farming techniques. The fertile soil of the Great Plains was exposed through removal of grass during plowing. During the drought, the soil dried out, became dust, and blew away eastwards, mostly in large black clouds.
