The meeting was held in Durham, North Carolina, the last week of March. Joseph Amato was also in attendance at the meeting. Included are data for approximately 280 southern and central Great Plains counties in the years leading up to and including the Dust Bowl. This view offers suggestive, not conclusive, correlations between dust storm regions and possible causes.
Results show a prominent role for climate in causing the Dust Bowl.
This contradicts a common theory that the misuse of land by over-plowing played the greatest role in causing the Dust Bowl. The study suggests that dust storms may be normal forms of ecological disturbance on the southern plains whenever the region experiences extended periods of low precipitation and high temperatures.