By the numbers: Today's drought vs. the Dust Bowl era

Story highlights

  • The Dust Bowl lasted for 8 years, causing millions to leave their homes
  • An estimated 20 million hectares of farmland were ineffective annually
  • The current drought is affecting all but a handful of American states
  • 4 billion fewer bushels of corn will be produced this year than once expected
The impact of the drought currently gripping the United States is real and tangible, as millions can attest. But the depth of the pain still falls short of that experienced by many in the Great Plains and beyond during the so-called Dust Bowl era of the 1930s.
Here is a look -- by the numbers -- comparing what happened then and what's happening now, both times due to pervasive and historic droughts.
The Dust Bowl days
8: The years of the general duration of the so-called Dust Bowl era, from 1931 to 1939
3.5 million: People who left their homes in the Great Plains and beyond due to drought
250,000: Families who lost their farms and ranches to bank foreclosures
60 mph: Speed of winds pushing a huge dust cloud on April 13, 1935, through Colorado, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and beyond -- causing hundreds of deaths -- during what is called "Black Sunday"
5: The string of years in the 1930s of the warmest temperatures ever recorded until recently in Amarillo, Texas
74: The degrees of temperature drop in an 18-hour span in Boise City, Oklahoma, in February 1933, as Dust Bowl winters were often bitterly cold
20 million: Hectares of range and farmland ruined annually during the Dust Bowl era
13: The number of camps, consisting of about 300 families each, set up by the Farm Security Administration for Dust Bowl migrants escaping the hardest hit areas
The current drought
40: Number of the 50 states with drought-designated counties as determined by the federal government, making them eligible for emergency aid
63%: Amount of the contiguous U.S. experiencing moderate to exceptional drought conditions
33%: Amount of the contiguous U.S. in such straits last year, indicating 30% more of the country now faces such conditions
#1: The historic rank for July 2012, nationally, in temperature, making it the hottest July since records were first kept in 1895
123.4: The bushels of corn per acre predicted by the USDA, the lowest yield since 1995
4 billion: The number of fewer bushels of U.S. corn likely to be produced, compared to what was forecast at the beginning of the year
80%: The amount of U.S. agricultural land being affected by the current drought
65%: The level of U.S. cattle production being affected by the current drought
Sources: Library of Congress, U.S. Department of Agriculture, National Climatic Data Center, U.S. Drought Monitor