The Great Plains suffered a terrible year in 1935. Already struggling in the fifth year of the drought, the Plains folk still had to endure one of their single worst days: April 14, 1935. Palm Sunday. Black Sunday. After millions of acres of wheat hadalready been lost that spring to drought and wind, this day brought another terrifying black blizzard that dwarfed the dust storms that had plagued the Plains since 1932. Starting in North Dakota, this 200- mile-wide monstrosity raced southward at nearly 60 mph and by late afternoon reached Oklahoma with clouds of black dust soaring thousands of feet in the air. Estimates say more than 300,000 tons of topsoil blew away on that one day before the storm exhausted itself. This was the day when reporters coined the term "Dust Bowl."
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