History Brief: Black Blizzards

The following video provides a short introduction to the dust storms of the Dust Bowl era, which became known as black blizzards. The worst of these events became known as Black Sunday, which occurred on April 14, 1935.

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-Weather History: 1935 Black Sunday Dust Storm
-On Sunday, April 14, 1935, the "Black Sunday" dust storm rolled across the Central Plains turning afternoon sunshine to complete, utter darkness.
-Black Sunday refers to a particularly severe dust storm that occurred on April 14, 1935, as part of the Dust Bowl. It was one of the worst dust storms in American history and it caused immense economic and agricultural damage. It is estimated to have displaced 300 million tons of topsoil from the prairie area in the US.
-On the afternoon of April 14, the residents of the Plains States were forced to take cover as a dust storm, or "black blizzard", blew through the region. The storm hit the Oklahoma Panhandle and Northwestern Oklahoma first, and moved south for the remainder of the day. It hit Beaver around 4:00 p.m., Boise City around 5:15 p.m., and Amarillo, Texas, at 7:20 p.m. The conditions were the most severe in the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles, but the storm's effects were felt in other surrounding areas.
The storm was harsh due to the high winds that hit the area that day. The combination of drought, erosion, bare soil, and winds caused the dust to fly freely and at high speeds. The loose dust flying around was enough to inhale, and many people suffocated with the dust filling their lungs.
-The destruction caused by the dust storms, and especially by the storm on Black Sunday, caused hundreds of thousands of people to relocate, and some people were killed in the storm, too. Poor migrants from the American Southwest (known as "Okies" - though only about 20 percent were from Oklahoma) flooded California, overtaxing the state's health and employment infrastructure.
-In 1935, after the massive damage caused by these storms, Congress passed the Soil Conservation Act, which established the Soil Conservation Service (SCS) as a permanent agency of the USDA. The SCS was created in an attempt to provide guidance for land owners and land users to reduce soil erosion, improve forest and field land and conserve and develop natural resources

[APersonOnTheInternet]

That one person being like: HOLY SHIT! IS THAT A GEOMETRY DASH REFERENCE?

[landenfinney]

I'm here because the Coronavirus and my school is closed so we have 2 work at home

[aduck]

To be honest I thought a black blizzard was just a cool name Krmal came up with I never new it existed

[tonyafoodfamilyfriendsandf]

I lived in muleshoe TX when I was a little girl and I have been witness to these terrible storms!! with every window of our home shut and locked, we still had a heavy film of dust coating everything!!!!

[bomba]

I meant like black blizzard from geometry dash by krazyman50

[StarScar-]

Man, everyone coming here for school or a game, meanwhile Spongebob brought me here. That, and the way it was described somewhat reminded me of the radstorms in Fallout.

[doonewatts]

The eye opening photos are the perfect accompaniment to the audio

[juniorrodriguez-whbd]

Who is here just for school homework because of the Covid-19

[iiGhostFire]

I'm about to beat black blizzard, so it's good to know what they are

[suripuki]

main reason I'm here is because of black Blizzard from Krazyman50. I wanna know what that is though

[AlanBlackman]

Are these historical photos available to the public for use? If so, where can I find them in their highest resolution?

[HamSandvich]

Boy how yall gonna use that ironic sad music lmao

[xgreenery]

During the 1930's dust storms ravaged the great plains. The worst of these became known as Black Sunday. When did Black Sunday happen? Just how bad was it? In the early part of the 20th century, over farming, poor soil soil conservation techniques, and excessive livestock grazing had created a dangerous situation. The top soil of the great plains region had been stripped of its nutrients, as well as the natural vegetation that had once held the soil in place. Then 1930's saw the first year of what would eventually be an 11 year drought, in which precipitation in the form of rainfall, snowfall, and other forms of moisture was just a fraction of the normal levels, these factors combine to dehydrate the soil and turn it into a fine powdery dust. The wind picked up large amounts of this dust and generated massive dust storms, which swept across the plains. The storms could reach more that 10, 000 feet in height and produce winds from 50 to 80 miles per hour. The storms came to be known as Black Blizzards.

[jamiehalifax]

Bob dylan got me listening to woody guthrie.. and listening to woody guthrie brought me here.. I wish I was doing a school project..61yrs young here

[justuspierce]

Very interesting and was something I was completely unaware of.

[myrhh]

What was the relationship between the dust storms in the 30s with the Hoover Dam's completion in 1931?

[chasitymiller]

Thanks this helped me for my term paper to Shout out to you !

[susandixson]

Reading a book… The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah… came to see some images of Black Sunday, April 14….

[TheSnowyOwl-zgck]

Well, at least people learned from this not to over graze, and to conserve the soil when farming.

[JeffreyBarkdull]

Someone said that corruption caused this, but I don’t see how corruption caused this, do you?