Several factors caused the Dust Bowl. In the 1920s, the central U.S. had more rain than usual, and agriculture boomed. New immigrants moved to the Great Plains states seeking to start their own successful farms. However, they did not practice environmentally-friendly farming techniques. They made two big mistakes. First, in order to plant as much wheat as possible, they plowed over all of the natural prairie grasses that kept the topsoil in place. Second, they planted crops too often, instead of giving the soil a break every now and then. As long as the rain kept falling, neither of these mistakes caused problems.
But in 1930, the rain stopped coming. The soil became dry, loose, and unable to support crops. This drought would have been bad enough for farmers, but then strong winds picked up across the Great Plains. Those winds picked up all of the dry soil and sent it flying. People called these strong dust storms "black blizzards," which could sometimes last for one or two days straight.

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