As we all know, dust storms plagued the people of southwestern Kansas during the drought of the 1930s. These storms made life difficult even after the winds died down. Dust was everywhere: it got into cars and farm equipment coroding the gears, layers of dust covered every inch of the buildings making housework impossible to finish, and it even got into food and sometimes caused people to get sick. The worst of these storms, however, did not occur until 1935.

By 1934 an estimated 100 million acres had lost all topsoil to the wind. This made 1935 a particularly dusty year. After weeks of endless dust storms, the morning of April 14, 1935 was sunny and clear. As people began to venture out of their homes, however, a dark cloud appeared on the horizon. The winds, clocked at 60mph, swept the massive dust cloud across the plains completely blocking out the sun. Witnesses described the storm as a “black blizzard.” Cars were stranding on the roads and people caught outside in the storm became disoriented because they could not see in front of them. One man described being out in the blowing dust as feeling like “a shovelful of fine sand flung in the face.”

Dust cloud rolling over the plains on Black Sunday.
Black Sunday, April 14, 1935

The day after Black Sunday an Associated Press reporter wrote and article about the storm and used the term “Dust Bowl” for the first time. He wrote, “Three little words achingly familiar on the Western farmer’s tongue, rule life in the dust bowl of the continent – if it rains.” The term stuck and became the common way to describe not only the area of the Great Plains, but also the time period of the Dirty Thirties.

These storms were not just felt in the Great Plains, though. In the same month as Black Sunday a dust storm blew all the way from the Great Plains into Washington D.C. blocking out the sun and leaving a layer of grime all the way out to the Atlantic Coast. Interestingly enough, Congress passed the Soil Conservation Act that April as well.

Source: “The Dust Bowl of the 1930s” Living History Farm. http://www.livinghistoryfarm.org/farminginthe30s/water_02.html
Images: http://www.milliesliterarycorner.com/water0201%20BLACK%20SUNDAY.jpg