1. The 1930’s Dust Bowl Vs. Drought of 2012 Amanda Wixom, Emmalee Hurst, Colby Parks, Lindsey Swensen

2. What is a Drought? A drought is a prolonged period of abnormally low rainfall.

3. Major Effects of Droughts Hunger and Famine Thirst Disease Wildfires Social Conflict and War Migration and Relocation

4. The Dust Bowl

5. What: A period of severe drought and dust storms that impacted many states across the U.S. Where: Plains states through Texas and Oklahoma bore the brunt of the damage. When: 1930s, particularly 1934 and 1936. Impact: Major ecological and agricultural damage to American prairie lands. Why: A combination of weather, environmental and educational factors.

6. 3 Factors Weather Poor Farming Practices Lack of Environmental Understanding

7. Facts about the Dust Bowl 80% of the country was affected. Desertification as an issue during the Dust Bowl. Some cities went several years in a row with less than 10 in. of precipitation becoming, by definition, a desert Called the massive dust storms “Black Blizzards” About 100 million acres of farmland were damaged

8. Drought in 2012

9. Drought in 2014

10. 2 Factors Extreme heat from Southwest to Great Lakes Below average precipitation everywhere Caused drought conditions to expand aggressively Extreme heat still would have dried out the soil in many regions of the country even with normal rainfall

11. 2012 Drought Facts Covers more area than the Dust Bowl did in 1936 Is the 10 th -largest severe drought since 1895 Has caused mudslides due to precipitation Lake Shasta and Lake Oroville have less than 50% of their usual water level for December Percentage of the mid-west in drought has quadrupled during June Has cost the U.S. more than $35 billion

12. 1930s Large percentage of Americans were farmers Sustained drought Farmers stripped land of natural defenses (native grasses) Unsustainable farming practices

13. 2012 Smaller percentage of farmers Sustained drought Decades of replanting of native grasses, trees which act as a natural defense New Farming practices Greater understanding of environment

14. Works Cited http://www.weather.com/news/news/drought-disaster- new-data-20120715 http://www.theguardian.com/us- news/2014/dec/02/drought-stricken-california- welcome-rain-mudslides http://www.history.com/topics/dust-bowl https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYOmjQO_UM w http://io9.com/just-how-bad-is-californias-drought- heres-a-scary-10-1618712607