Volume 11 , Issue 28

The Dust Bowl Storms 1932-40

Remembering the 1930's Dust Bowl days of NE New Mexico, SE Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle. It was on February 21, that a severe duster struck western Kansas from the north and rolled southward into Oklahoma and Texas.

The dust boiled up from the tinder dry fields, downed telephone lines, and brought traffic to a standstill. At Alva, Oklahoma, the storm sifted dust into the college gymnasium to such a degree that a basketball game in progress had to be stopped.

It was during March and April 1935, that Amarillo, Texas and Dodge city Kansas had 28 and 26 dust laden days respectively. March was a dirty month in eastern Colorado, where dust storms occurred frequently from March 12 to March 25. Dust formed drifts like snow from a few inches to more than six feet deep.

March, 1935, a black blizzard turned day into night in the Texas Panhandle, breaking glass windows, damaged railroad communication. At Alva, Oklahoma, city police blocked the highways and prohibited motorists from leaving town.

Four days before the notorious black blizzard of April 14, 1935, a severe dust storm rolled across the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles and into Kansas. It was reported to have paralyzed traffic for more than 24 hours and set a record for the intensity and duration of a daytime storm.

In Boise City, Oklahoma, 49 mph winds accompanied the dust. At Guymon, the storm lasted 48 hours. In the heart of the Texas Panhandle at Amarillo, airport officials estimated that the dust cloud reached 15 thousand feet.

Absolute darkness lasted 15 minutes, May 22, 1937, in Boise City, Oklahoma. The Oklahoma Panhandle had only 12 dusty days from March to May of that year. It was reported that the Dust Bowl received subnormal rainfall in April 1938, but all of the severe dust storms occurred before the 15th. The dust storms that began in 1932 and peaked in 1935 continued intermittently during the spring months of the next 4 years, but by 1940 a return of the wet cycle ended them. -- An AGricultural & Social History - The Dust Bowl, by R. Douglas Hurt.

There is an Oklahoma Panhandle saying goes something like this, "Don't let this year make a damned fool of you next year."
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