USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -The Great Plains have a continental climate. Over much of their expanse, cold winters and warm summers prevail, with low precipitation and humidity, much wind, and sudden changes in temperature. The major source of moisture is the Gulf of Mexico, and the amount falls off both to the north and west.

Detailed explanation-2: -Crops began to fail with the onset of drought in 1931, exposing the bare, over-plowed farmland. Without deep-rooted prairie grasses to hold the soil in place, it began to blow away. Eroding soil led to massive dust storms and economic devastation-especially in the Southern Plains.

Detailed explanation-3: -Sparse Vegetation in Field A combination of aggressive and poor farming techniques, coupled with drought conditions in the region and high winds created massive dust storms that drove thousands from their homes and created a large migrant population of poor, rural Americans during the 1930s.

Detailed explanation-4: -Results of a Dust Storm, Oklahoma, 1936. Between 1930 and 1940, the southwestern Great Plains region of the United States suffered a severe drought. Once a semi-arid grassland, the treeless plains became home to thousands of settlers when, in 1862, Congress passed the Homestead Act.