Dust Storm, Cimarron County, Oklahoma

In the 1920's and early 1930's farmers in western states began working land that had previously been covered in drought resistant native grasses. When an extended El Niño driven drought occured the crops on those lands dried up as did the soil. Winds carried the dust to the east and north of areas typically affected by such droughts, covering them in dust and destroying the crops. What was a naturally driven disaster was made far worse by poor land management practices.