Climate: The Dust Bowl In the second half of the 1930s, as the Depression wore on, a major drought devastated the southern plains. The Texas Panhandle suffered greatly, winds eroded the parched land and made life on farms and in towns all but impossible—This event was called The Dust Bowl. The Texas economy was hurt by the devastating effects of the Dust Bowl. At times, the dust storms were so severe they blocked the sun for hours. Before this period of time was over, hundreds of people in Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas had died from the heat. During 1936, the number of dirt storms increased and the temperature broke the 1934 record high by soaring above 120 degrees.

Photo By Three Lions/Getty Images Dustbowls in Texas Photo By Three Lions/Getty Images April 1938: A dust bowl farmstead in Dallam County, Texas, showing the desolation produced by the dust and wind on the countryside.

Farmer and Sons During a Dust Storm Cimarron County, Oklahoma, 1936. Photographer: Arthur Rothstein. Description: The drought that helped cripple agriculture in the Great Depression was the worst in the history of the country. By 1934 it had decimated the Great Plains, from North Dakota to Texas, from the Mississippi River Valley to the Rockies.

Migratory Workers Look for Work Photo By Universal History Archive/Getty Images Description: 1936, Drought and dustbowl refugees from Abilene, Texas, following the crops of California as migratory (traveling) workers.