Dust Storms Still Exist

Dust Storms Still Exist

                                               by Collette

I taught school with several teachers who worked or grew up in Western Kansas. Each had his own story about dust storms in their areas, but after the “dirty 30’s.” Although farming practices have vastly improved, there is still the occasional dust storm. Crop residue, strip farming, shelter belts and “no tillage” have stopped most of the problems today. Yet, when it doesn’t rain and the wind blows, dust stills gathers and spreads into the atmosphere.

My favorite story about dust blowing recently was at a track meet. Depending on which end of the track you were viewing, when the runners got to the opposite end the fans could no longer see them. They had to wait until they got out of the cloud before viewing them again. Surprisingly, the lead often seemed to change while the runners were inside the cloud of dust.

One January day several years ago, my husband and I made a flying trip to Colorado to pick up a piece of equipment for the greenhouses. We actually went up on Pikes Peak the last day of the cog rail’s season before it closed and saw how empty the nearby reservoirs were. On the way back across Southwestern Kansas the drought continued as we saw ground so dry the wheat could not stand the blowing wind. In many places the ditches were full of uprooted wheat the wind destroyed. Making a living in this area is still difficult when it doesn’t rain.