14th April 1935: Black Sunday dust storm sweeps across the Great Plains during the Dust Bowl era
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- Опубліковано 5 вер 2024
- The Great Plains had been settled for the development of agriculture since the Homestead Act of 1862. Subsequent federal laws brought waves of new settlers, who used mechanised farm equipment to convert grassland into cultivated cropland. Cattle and sheep farming also depleted the grasses and shrubs that anchored the soil.
Poor agricultural practices were exacerbated by a severe drought in the 1930s that affected a region encompassing parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico. These conditions led to the dry and powdery topsoil blowing away in the wind, leading to the area becoming known as the Dust Bowl.
On April 14, 1935, one of America’s most severe dust storms swept across the Great Plains. Known as Black Sunday, the storm brought a massive wall of dust estimated to be over 2 miles high. This engulfed entire communities in darkness and choking dust, causing widespread panic and fear. Visibility in places was reduced to just a few feet, as high winds that reached speeds of up to 60 miles per hour whipped up the fine particles of dust and sand. The dust penetrated homes, schools, and businesses, seeping through cracks and crevices and coating everything in its path.
Farmers and ranchers were particularly badly affected. The storm buried crops and fields under layers of dust and killed livestock, leading to widespread economic hardship and food shortages. In the aftermath, the federal government introduced various conservation measures, including the establishment of the Soil Conservation Service and programs designed to prevent further erosion and restore damaged lands.
Excellent Report, Gentlemen. Thank you. God Bless 😊
Great little feature on the dust bowl. Anyone wanting a deeper dive on this era should read Timothy Eagan's The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl. I drove through rural areas in southwestern Oklahoma in 2014 and saw many dust/sand drifts along the roads and in fields. I think it likely they date to that era.
I like your voice. The minute I hear it I say to myself, this is going to be good. For being you, and thanks for posting this very interesting videos
Nice to see/hear a human being doing the narration instead of an AI voice bot. In fact, I subscribe to YT channels often for just this reason, and unsubscribe from bot channels. I subscribed here. Nice mini-documentary, HP. Cheers
Thank you! Bot voice channels really wind me up too...!
I am currently reading Kristin Hannah's "The Four Winds". It describes the storm in one of the chapters. Really terrifying!
That's what brought me here!
@@Mideezhanti great book, isn't it?
You forgot about what was holding the top soil in place .
It was wild hemp . Dozed after hemp was made illegal in 27
They will tell you everything but that .
Over the decades I worked with real estate developers (the devil himself) who removed forests in order to build more homes. The Corps of Engineers should have done their job and not allowed these atrosities to happen, but they did. Now, once again, because of Human Activities, we and all of Nature are paying the price.
It's wasn't the farming practices that brought on the dust bowl. It was the extreme drought and high Temps at the time. The 48 states all together have only averaged 100°F for a day 20 times since we have kept track of temperatures. All 20 of those days happened in the 1930s. The 1930s also hold 8 of the top 10 hottest years on record. The other 2 were 1899 and 1998.
This must be when climate change started.