They formed co-ops and purchased irrigation equipment. They left their farms for California. They developed drought-resistant strains of their crops and recovered from their losses.

During the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, the federal government planted 220 million trees to stop the blowing soil that devastated the Great Plains. These so-called shelterbelts were critical to alleviating the conditions that created the Dust Bowl, and have helped stop them from coming back.

Soil health-improving regenerative agricultural practices including no-till planting, the use of cover crops, the integration of animals and beneficial insects, and diverse cropping rotations all feed and protect soil microbes, which in turn, feed and protect the crops that feed and nourish us.

More than eight decades later, the summer of 1936 remains the hottest summer on record in the U.S. However, new research finds that the heat waves that powered the Dust Bowl are now 2.5 times more likely to happen again in our modern climate due to another type of manmade crisis — climate change.

What circumstances conspired to cause the Dust Bowl? Economic depression coupled with extended drought, unusually high temperatures, poor agricultural practices and the resulting wind erosion all contributed to making the Dust Bowl. The seeds of the Dust Bowl may have been sowed during the early 1920s.

The Dust Bowl was caused by several economic and agricultural factors, including federal land policies, changes in regional weather, farm economics and other cultural factors. After the Civil War, a series of federal land acts coaxed pioneers westward by incentivizing farming in the Great Plains.

The massive dust storms caused farmers to lose their livelihoods and their homes. Deflation from the Depression aggravated the plight of Dust Bowl farmers. Prices for the crops they could grow fell below subsistence levels. In 1932, the federal government sent aid to the drought-affected states.

The swirling dust proved deadly. Dust pneumonia, called the “brown plague,” killed hundreds and was particularly lethal for infants, children and the elderly. Many, but not all, of the Dust Bowl refugees hailed from Oklahoma.

Reaching its full fury in southeastern Colorado, southwestern Kansas and the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles, it turned a sunny day totally dark. Drivers were forced to take refuge in their cars, while other residents hunkered down in basements, barns, fire stations and tornado shelters, as well as under beds.

In what came to be known as “Black Sunday,” one of the most devastating storms of the 1930s Dust Bowl era sweeps across the region on April 14, 1935.

While these winds won’t kill you, they frequently cause auto accidents as a result of the blinding effect of the sand. If you’re driving and a sandstorm occurs, pull over immediately, turn off your car and headlights and turn on your flashing hazard lights.

Dust storms usually last a few minutes and up to an hour at most. Stay where you are until the dust storm passes. Avoid driving into or through a dust storm.

“At 100 mph the force created by the wind is twenty-five pounds per square foot,” Perdicizzi said, “so the standing person would have 200 pounds of force pushing on him, while the rider would see just a fraction of that.” A little bit of aerodynamics knowledge goes a long way.