On May 11, 1934, a massive dust storm swept from the Great Plains to the Eastern states, part of the series of dust storms that characterized the Dust Bowl era of the 1930s. This ecological disaster arose from a combination of severe drought and the agricultural practices of the time, which failed to protect the prairie grasses that anchored the soil. The “Black Blizzards,” as they were called, led to significant economic hardship and mass migration, spurring changes in US agricultural policy and contributing to the development of the Soil Conservation Service, a critical response to one of the worst man-made ecological disasters in American history.
