Scenes of 'Dust Bowl Days' Return As Oklahoma Storm Causes Highway Pileup

[xchrom]

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2012/10/19


Photo By The Ponca City News, Rolf Clements)

Dramatic video footage and eye witness accounts from Oklahoma on Thursday tell the story of a scene right out of the Depression-era 'Dust Bowl days' as a massive wind-swept cloud of 'reddish-brown' dirt made invisibility impossible on a stretch of Interstate-35 between Oklahoma City and Kansas City, Mo.

The mid-western states have experienced some of the highest temperatures on record this year and a severe drought has devastated corn crops and turned once thriving fields to brown. Scientists make direct connections between these trends and the growing impact of climate change fueled by human-caused climate change.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Jodi Palmer, a dispatcher with the Kay County Sheriff’s Office, told the Associated Press. “In this area alone, the dirt is blowing because we’ve been in a drought. I think from the drought everything’s so dry and the wind is high.”

[CBGLuthier]

1. First bad one in a long time but we have had a few of them since the 30's

Back in the 80's and 90's we had a few of them roll through town. With the drought it is no surprise they are back. High wind speed is just a fact of life in Oklahoma.

[xchrom]

3. i remember the news about the 1 in the 80s. nt

[pipoman]

2. Dust storms in these parts have been going on since ...forever..

until it lasts a decade, there is no relationship to the 1930's..

That said, I do believe Kansas got a little redder yesterday..red dirt that is..

[BlueToTheBone]

4. results of republican policies at work for many years.

bad roads, bad farming practices and general lack of care for the environment.