Dust Bowl was hotter than now
A record-shattering heat wave in Europe brought readings topping 104 degrees Fahrenheit. Hundreds of deaths have been attributed to the event, and five countries — Wales, England, Ireland, Scotland and Germany — set national heat records. In the United States, an even hotter bout of heat has been baking the Great Plains, with temperatures reaching
115 degrees in Oklahoma and Texas.
But while cities like Dallas; Fort Worth, Texas; Oklahoma City; Tulsa, Okla.; and Wichita, Kan., are anticipated to have triple-digit highs essentially until further notice — with heat advisories blanketing the nation’s heartland — there’s a standout difference in the U.S. event: In the Plains, where much of the heat was concentrated, no state records have been broken so far, while the European heat waves set all-time records. In fact, even the hottest U.S. locations stayed 5 degrees shy of state record temperatures largely set during a multiyear drought more than eight decades ago.
The recent events, mostly unrelated, are tied together by one thing: Neither heat wave was caused by climate change, but both were pushed into extreme, record territory by the effects of human influence on the atmosphere.
It’s well-known that greenhouse gases are warming the atmosphere, helping tip the scales toward exceptional heat events.
Climate change is also contributing to an uptick in flooding, stronger hurricanes and more prolonged droughts.
But even in an era marked by the effects of climate change, it’s been so far seemingly difficult to set new records across the U.S. Plains.
If you glance at long-standing records across the Plains, something becomes apparent pretty quickly. A lot of the extant records date to the 1930s — and, despite decades of warming, they haven’t been surpassed.
Oklahoma: Altus hit 120 degrees on Aug. 12, 1936.
Kansas: Alton hit 121 on July 24, 1936.
Nebraska: Minden spiked to 118 on July 24, 1936.
South Dakota: Fort Pierre hit 120 on July 15, 2006.
North Dakota: Steele jumped to 121 on July 6, 1936.
Minnesota: Beardsley got to 115 on July 29, 1917.
Wisconsin: Wisconsin Dells logged 114 on July 13, 1936.
Iowa: Keokuk climbed to 118 on July 20, 1934.
In fact, 23 states and the District of Columbia are holding onto records set in the 1930s.
So what was going on in the 1930s? The Dust Bowl, a yearslong drought punctuated by sprawling dust storms, transformed parts of the Plains into a wasteland.
Years of land mismanagement and unsustainable farming techniques degraded topsoil, which killed native species of grass that trapped soil moisture. The result? Unshakable drought and rolling dust storms that could travel hundreds of miles and turn day into night.
The lack of moisture meant the air had a low specific heat capacity; in other words, it didn’t require much thermal energy to heat up, and could cool down quickly at night. That allowed temperatures to soar to inconceivable levels — hence the numerous states that made it to 120 during the Dust Bowl.
Officially, the Dust Bowl spanned from 1930-39, but it peaked in 1936 — the year 13 states recorded their record highs.
Modern farming and irrigation techniques, combined with oversight from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, have limited the odds of another Dust Bowl.
Since the event, the United States has warmed about a degree-and-a-half due to human-induced climate change — but the Dust Bowl remains a favorite anecdote for some who deny climate science.
The Earth’s atmosphere is irrefutably warming; all seven of the top-seven hottest years on record have occurred since 2015, though reliable global records date back to the 1880s.