--- description: Thousands of families were forced to leave areas around Oklahoma because of drought and bad farming. Many went to California title: California Could Become a 'Dust Bowl' image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte017ac33d472cc89/6987ea87cd6848046909d74c/california-drought.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Environment](/tag/environment/) ## Environment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # California Could Become a 'Dust Bowl' Like 1930s Oklahoma by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 10, 2015 1:29 PM CUT  Dry earth is seen between rows of grapevines in Napa, California April 9, 2015\. The state is in the fourth year of one of the worst droughts on record. Dry earth is seen between rows of grapevines in Napa, California April 9, 2015\. The state is in the fourth year of one of the worst droughts on record.Elijah Nouvelage—Reuters by [Sarah Begley](/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 10, 2015 1:29 PM CUT As California enters a fourth year of drought, it’s possible that the state could experience conditions like the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. At a presentation by the Assn. of California Water Agencies, climatologist Michael Anderson said, “You’re looking on numbers that are right on par with what was the Dust Bowl,” the L.A. _Times_ reports. In the 1930s, drought and bad faming methods destroyed 100 million acres of farmland around Oklahoma and forced families to leave, many for California. Their journey was immortalized in John Steinbeck’s _The Grapes of Wrath._ The organization raised awareness about the impact on the state’s farmers, who have seen a loss of $1.5 billion due to lack of water for cultivating their crops. \[[_L.A. Times_](http://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-pc-california-dust-bowl-drought-20150409-story.html "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3817050/california-dust-bowl/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3817050/california-dust-bowl/"},"headline":"California Could Become a 'Dust Bowl' Like 1930s Oklahoma","datePublished":"2015-04-10T13:29:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T06:18:11.471Z","description":"Thousands of families were forced to leave areas around Oklahoma because of drought and bad farming. Many went to California","url":"https://time.com/3817050/california-dust-bowl/","keywords":["Environment","California","climate","Water","California drought"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte017ac33d472cc89/6987ea87cd6848046909d74c/california-drought.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte017ac33d472cc89/6987ea87cd6848046909d74c/california-drought.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Dry earth is seen between rows of grapevines in Napa, California","caption":"Dry earth is seen between rows of grapevines in Napa, California","creditText":"Elijah Nouvelage—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/environment/","name":"Environment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3817050/california-dust-bowl/","name":"California Could Become a 'Dust Bowl' Like 1930s Oklahoma"}}]}] ```