1935: "Black Blizzard" strikes Amarillo, TX

The 1930s were not kind to the Great Plains, in the midst of economic disaster caused by the Great Depression, one of the most prolonged periods of severe weather struct the region in the form of severe drought, known as the Dust Bowl. Mass migration hit the area and many parts of the region lost population that would not be replenished for more than 25 years. With insufficient understanding of the ecology of the plains, farmers had conducted extensive deep plowing of the virgin topsoil of the Great Plains during the previous decade; this had displaced the native, deep-rooted grasses that normally trapped soil and moisture even during periods of drought and high winds. The rapid mechanization of farm equipment, especially small gasoline tractors, and widespread use of the combine harvester contributed to farmers' decisions to convert arid grassland, much of which received no more than 10 inches of precipitation per year, to cultivated cropland. During the drought of the 1930s, the unanchored soil turned to dust, which the prevailing winds blew away in huge clouds that sometimes blackened the sky. These choking billows of dust were named "black blizzards". On March 15, 1935 one of the worst of these black blizzards, stuck Amarillo, Texas with Suffocating dust; 6 people died, many livestock starved or suffocated. Dust lay 6 feet deep in places.

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