Three other years that decade are in the top ten. The 1930s were also one of the driest periods on record, especially in the Midwest. Shreveport, La., which normally receives more than 45 inches of precipitation each year, had just over 26 inches in 1936. In Ludlow, S.D., 2.89 inches of rain fell in 1936, while the state normally averages between 15 and 25 inches annually. This storm, with winds in excess of 60 mph, caused the visibility to drop below 100 feet.
People reportedly couldn t even see their outstretched hands.
The blowing dust was also unhealthy to people and to animals. Nearly every Midwesterner suffered from dust-related respiratory illness. Birds and small animals often suffocated from the fine dust particles that would cake up inside their moist lungs. This storm, and about 50 other dust storms that occurred in the 1930s, blew an estimated 850 million tons of soil from the plains. One strong storm picked up and carried dust over the Appalachian Mountains to parts of the East Coast.