The term Dust Bowl was suggested by conditions that struck the region in the early 1930s. The area's grasslands had supported mostly stockraising until World War I, when millions of acres were put under the plow in order to grow wheat. Following years of overcultivation and generally poor land management in the 1920s, the region—which receives an average rainfall of less than 20 inches (500 mm) in a typical year—suffered a severe drought in the early 1930s that lasted several years. The region's exposed topsoil, robbed of the anchoring, water-retaining roots of its native grasses, was carried off by heavy spring winds. “Black blizzards” of windblown soil blocked out the sun and piled the dirt in drifts. Occasionally the dust storms swept completely across the country to the East Coast. Thousands of families were forced to leave the region at the height of the Great Depression in the early and mid-1930s.

The wind erosion was gradually halted with federal aid; windbreaks were planted and much of the grassland was restored. By the early 1940s the area had largely recovered.