• by Justin Thomas
• (2) Comments 

May 11, 2011 at 4:00 pm

On this day in 1934, a series of incredible dust storms ripped across the Midwestern and Eastern United States, blanketing half the country in a devastating cloud of dirt, much like “The Nothing” in Never Ending Story. A sudden rise in farming during the early 1930′s, when coupled with a severe drought, left all of the grassy plains of the midwest a barren, dusty wasteland (which is where the nickname “Dust Bowl” came from), and a strong wind storm had no trouble turning that dust into a full-fledged mega dust storm that swept across the entire eastern United States, giving the world a glimpse of the devastating (and incredibly messy) power that an incredible dust storm can bring with it.