BLACK SUNDAY
On 14 April 1935, the Dust Bowl’s worst dust storm occurred. Beginning in Oklahoma at around 16:00, temperatures dropped by over 15 degrees Celsius and a billowing wall of pitch-black dust, accompanied by 40 mile per hour winds, swept across the land. The dust was carried thousands of metres into the air and blotted out the Sun, the intensity of the storm causing many to believe the world was coming to an end.
By 19 April the storm reached Washington DC. Bakers had to keep freshly baked bread away from windows so that it would not get dirty, and any washing hung outside was found covered in dust. However, the storm was perfectly timed for Hugh Hammond Bennett, the ‘father of soil conservation’, who at the time that Black Sunday hit Washington was giving a lecture to Congress, imploring them to take action against the ongoing drought. Having now experienced a devastating storm firsthand, Congress would push the Soil Conservation Act through a mere year later.