Black Sunday (storm) - The Dust Bowl

The Dust Bowl

In North America the term Dust Bowl typically has one of two meanings, depending on the reference and subject. In some sources the expression refers to the series of dust storms that hit the prairies of Canada and the United States during the 1930s. In other sources the term Dust Bowl describes the area in the United States that was most affected by the storms, including western Kansas, eastern Colorado, northeastern New Mexico, and the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles.

The "black blizzards" started in the Eastern states in 1930, affecting the agriculture from Maine to Arkansas, and by 1934 they had reached The Great Plains from North Dakota to Texas and from the Mississippi River Valley to the Rocky Mountains. The Dust Bowl received its name following the disastrous storm in April 1935, Black Sunday, after Robert L. Geiger, a reporter, was covering an account of the storm and referred to the region as "The Dust Bowl."