History: Dust Bowl, Dirty Thirties, 1930s, Great Plains, American And Canadian Prairies

On April 14, 1935, known as "Black Sunday", 20 of the worst "black blizzards" occurred across the entire sweep of the Great Plains, from Canada south to Texas. The dust storms caused extensive damage and turned the day to night; witnesses reported they could not see five feet in front of them at certain points. Denver based Associated Press reporter Robert E. Geiger happened to be in Boise City, Oklahoma that day. His story about Black Sunday marked the first appearance of the term Dust Bowl; it was coined by Edward Stanley, Kansas City news editor of the Associated Press, while rewriting Geiger's news story.
Human displacement
This catastrophe intensified the economic impact of the Great Depression in the region. The Dust Bowl has been identified as the "most extreme natural event in 350 years".