AccuWeather Network Chief Meteorologist Bernie Rayno and AccuWeather Founder & Executive Chairman Dr. Joel N. Myers discuss the unbelievable story of the locust plague of 1874, and discover if we are at risk of this happening again in the U.S.
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00:00Welcome to Invisible Iceberg, I'm Bernie Raynaud.
00:05On today's show, some said it was clouds of grasshoppers.
00:07Dr. Joel Myers and I discussed the unbelievable story of the locust plague of 1874.
00:15Plus, are we at risk of this happening again in the United States?
00:20It's one of the questions we answer in our segment, What If?
00:25We take an interesting, and some may say creepy, look at insects.
00:30Can they really forecast the weather?
00:32We'll reveal the answer.
00:35It all starts now on Invisible Iceberg.
00:44July 1874, a massive swarm of over 12 trillion locusts created dark skies over Kansas, leaving
00:52behind a trail of destruction, and many farmers in the plains were left with nothing.
00:59It wouldn't be until 1877 when a massive weather event opened the door to better times.
01:05This is one of the amazing stories in the book Invisible Iceberg, When Climate and Weather
01:10Shaped History.
01:11Joining me now to talk about the critical moment for farmers is Acuweather founder and
01:16executive chairman and author of the book Invisible Iceberg, When Climate and Weather
01:21Shaped History, Dr. Joel Myers.
01:23Thanks for joining us, Dr. Joel.
01:25My pleasure as always.
01:2712.4 trillion.
01:30I'm not even going to ask how we got that number, but let's kind of go over that event
01:36in July of 1874.
01:38Yeah, well, there was a setup, a drought, because of El Nino, prior to that, across
01:45a wide area, the Rockies and the plains.
01:48Because of that, the locusts just got into what's called a gregarious stage, and they
01:54just started moving with intensity and reproducing like crazy.
01:59And yeah, 12.5 trillion locusts, and then they swarmed across the plains.
02:05It was the greatest locust swarm known to man, even greater than the story of Passover
02:14and what happened in Egypt, you know, one of the ten plagues.
02:17I mean, this was incredible.
02:21It darkened the sky, some places for as much as six hours.
02:26The swarm of locusts was half a mile thick and covered, at one point, 2,000 square miles,
02:36a vast area of the plains.
02:38And these locusts ate everything in sight.
02:42They completely destroyed the crops, ate corn, soybean, everything that was there,
02:48all the vegetable crops, everything.
02:49People were growing across many states.
02:52And then when there was no food left, they started eating pieces of the houses and anything
02:59that was organic.
03:00They were just starving.
03:01I think it was the term, they ate everything but the mortgage, correct?
03:05Yeah, that was it.
03:07That's what somebody said.
03:08Did people immediately know what it was?
03:11Or did they think it was something else?
03:13Well, of course, it wasn't the kind of communications we have today.
03:16So I don't know how many people were startled by it, but it started rolling in, looked like
03:22maybe smoke from a fire at first, dark clouds, maybe they thought a tornado was coming.
03:28Who were the people that inhabited these areas?
03:32Well, there were a lot of former Union soldiers.
03:36That's part of the reason the Homestead Act was passed.
03:39And also to spread people into the Midwest.
03:43So you could get, the old story, 160 acres and a mule, which was a basic quarter of a
03:50square mile.
03:52And yeah, so then if they settled and farmed the land for five straight years or more,
04:00they could buy that land for a dollar and a quarter an acre.
04:03But of course they were wiped out.
04:04They couldn't do that.
04:05And they were then forced to lose everything.
04:08And a lot of them did.
04:09Let's talk about some of the states, because it wasn't just Kansas.
04:13It was a lot of what we would consider the Great Plains and even parts of the Midwest
04:17today.
04:18That's correct.
04:19Yeah, as far east as Missouri and back to Colorado and the Dakotas, Minnesota, Iowa,
04:25down to Oklahoma, even Northern Texas.
04:27Yeah, it was a huge area that was impacted.
04:29And when you think about if it happened today, you're talking about about $200 billion worth
04:36of crops and corn and soybeans you had in vegetables.
04:40So you're probably talking about, you know, a significant fraction of a trillion dollars
04:44in loss.
04:45But that's only for the crop.
04:47The impact then on inflation of cost of food, and of course that's in the national market,
04:54but there would be, it would probably cause a depression today.
04:58For about four or five years, there was not only the United States, but globally a recession
05:03or depression.
05:04It lasted until 77, maybe 78.
05:08And this certainly contributed to it as well.
05:11I'm going to ask you a tough question because I know you'll have the answer for it.
05:14You're a smart man.
05:16You know, when you think of the Plains and economic disasters, the Dust Bowl comes to
05:20my mind, right?
05:23Is there any relation to this as far as what was worse?
05:27Is it comparable?
05:28I know it's a different time, but this was in a sense some of the same areas that years
05:34later would be affected by the Dust Bowl.
05:36Yeah, of course, the Dust Bowl was in the 30s.
05:40And this was 60 years earlier.
05:42So but it was some of the same area because the Plains are on the edge.
05:48You know, to the west, you're really a desert.
05:51And to the east, you have rainy areas where the Gulf of Mexico and that line between moisture
05:56and dryness shifts and varies from west to east over the decades and has with subtle
06:03climate differences throughout history.
06:06Just a fascinating and unbelievably scary story for people living during those times.
06:11Brought on by weather and climate.
06:13Brought on by weather and climate, as everything always is.
06:17Not everything, but certainly it influences most many things.
06:21Many, many things.
06:22Thanks, Joel.
06:23We'll be back in a few minutes to talk more about this topic.
06:27Joining us right now is Scott Schell.
06:30He is an associate research scientist at the University of Wyoming.
06:34Scott, thanks for joining us.
06:37You're welcome, Bernie.
06:39How did we know that 12.5 trillion number?
06:43How was it determined?
06:45In 1875, there was a fellow who, Dr. Albert Childs, who gave a very accurate description
06:54of the size of a swarm of rocky mountain locusts that passed over his point.
06:59And he telegraphed east and west and then recorded how long each day for five days that
07:07the swarm passed over his position.
07:12What would have been like to experience the locust, the sound of the swarm?
07:19Well, based on the firsthand accounts, the wing rustling of that many insects was amplified
07:29and was loud.
07:33When the swarms landed, they could actually make it difficult to hear each other talk.
07:40And then even more alarming was after a swarm landed and started chewing on the vegetation,
07:46the sound of their feeding could be heard, too.
07:52Kind of a crunching noise, I guess, as they snipped off pieces of vegetation.
07:56How long did the swarm last and what destruction did they leave behind?
08:02Eventually, the swarms did dissipate, probably due to many factors.
08:09Weather is a very important one for many insect species, and certainly a rocky mountain
08:14locust was no exception, plus predators, parasites, disease organisms eventually caused the outbreak
08:22to collapse.
08:23Did weather play a role in the locust invasion?
08:26In 1873, which would have been when the eggs were laid in the soil, deposited in the soil,
08:35and then they hatched in the spring of 1874.
08:39So those, you know, the weather conditions there, 1873 was an exceedingly dry period
08:47in those areas, and that favors the locusts.
08:51As they developed and then started to fly, they could utilize low-level jet, essentially
08:58a wind that comes from the Gulf of Mexico and carries up from south to north.
09:05And that's what they were riding on when they were sweeping across Kansas and Nebraska.
09:10Could we see a similar locust attack in the future?
09:13Well, the rocky mountain locust, a species of grasshopper called Melanoplus spredus,
09:21went extinct around the turn of the previous century.
09:25So the last reported incidence of swarming was in Manitoba in like 1904, I think.
09:32But we still have problems with other species of grasshopper.
09:37The migratory grasshopper Melanoplus sanguinipus is one that still causes major issues and
09:45crop losses.
09:46Montana in 2022 had over 5 million acres that were economically infested by Melanoplus sanguinipus.
09:54So we still have a problem around the world.
09:58In other countries, certainly the desert locusts, the migratory locusts, and then the
10:06Australian flag locusts and other locust species in southern Africa still cause major issues
10:12and crop losses for people.
10:15Scott Schell, Associated Research Scientist at the University of Wyoming, thank you again
10:20for joining us.
10:23You're welcome.
10:24Coming up, can some insects really forecast the weather?
10:29We've got the answer.
10:30But next, it's time for our What If segment.
10:33We look at what would happen if locusts swarmed the U.S. today, just like they did in 1874.
10:42Invisible Iceberg returns after the break.
10:54Welcome back to Invisible Iceberg, I'm Bernie Raynaud.
11:07Now it's time for our segment, What If, where we'll look at how America would be different
11:13if the drought and insect invasions never happened.
11:16Joining us again is AccuWeather founder and executive chairman and author of the book
11:20Invisible Iceberg, When Climate and Weather Shaped History, Dr. Joel Myers.
11:26Before we get into the What If, Dr. Joel, let's talk about this.
11:31Prior to the crops being just totally destroyed by the grasshopper invasion of 1874, what
11:39were farmers already dealing with as far as weather conditions and conditions to grow
11:45their crops?
11:46It wasn't ideal even before this, correct?
11:49Well, actually, there was a terrible drought in 1873, the year before, and so there was
11:56also a question whether a lot of these farmers were going to survive.
11:59But then the drought ended, the rains returned, and so 1874 crop was going pretty well.
12:08And so they were optimistic in general, of course, it varied across the plain states.
12:14And then in July, as the crops were doing well, the locusts arrived and ate everything
12:21in sight.
12:22And then we get into this issue, federal assistance.
12:26There were people that opposed federal assistance to the people that went through this tragedy.
12:32Why did so many people oppose it?
12:34Well, it was individualism.
12:38It was a more capitalistic society than we have today.
12:42And there were real arguments, should the federal government play any role in this regard?
12:47It's up to the states and local areas to support their own.
12:51I mean, there was more states' rights.
12:53And so it was a real debate.
12:55But of course, the federal government had stepped in after the Chicago fire.
12:59And so in the end, the idea, this was such a catastrophe, the idea of the federal government
13:05stepping in and helping the farmers, who, by the way, many of them were Union soldiers
13:11who had been promised and given the opportunity to own this land, and had sacrificed a lot
13:17and worked hard, and then everything was wiped out.
13:23And that really was the first case that set the stage in the future for the federal government
13:27stepping in after there's been a disaster to help people that have really been decimated
13:35by harmful weather.
13:37So that's pretty much why those arguments against federal assistance in this case failed.
13:43A lot of it, well, we helped Chicago, we've done other things, but also the people were
13:48such in desperate need, perhaps that wasn't as well known in areas outside where we had
13:54the crops.
13:55Not at first, yeah.
13:56But finally it became, right, because the communications of those days was nothing like
13:59it is now.
14:00Well, how did people feel about the government response to all this?
14:04Well, as I said, in the beginning there was a real debate and resistance, but in the end
14:10the federal government, it was approved, Congress passed it, and it was too late for some of
14:16the farmers, but it did allow a lot of them to stay on their land and eventually to move
14:23forward and own those farms, and hopefully many of them prospered by hard work and dedication
14:30over the following years and decades.
14:33Two questions for you, Rapid Fire.
14:36When did finally the locust attack end, and did they ever reappear years later?
14:42Let's talk about when it finally ended.
14:45So they first appeared, of course, in July of 1874, and for some areas it was still an
14:52impact up to three years later.
14:54So they just didn't completely disappear, but it was nothing like that tremendous swarm
14:58of July 1874.
15:00The last of the locusts were seen in 1902, never been seen since.
15:06What if a similar locust attack happened today?
15:10Obviously, technology and warning, I would assume it would be a heck of a lot different.
15:15It would.
15:16There was virtually no communications in those days.
15:17It was a shock and a surprise when the locusts descended, but today we would detect them
15:24even on radar, weather radar, and we're much more in touch with what's going on.
15:30And so we have pesticides and various means of combating.
15:35So I would be shocked if anything approaching what happened in 1874 occurred today.
15:41And when you did the research for this subject, obviously we're talking about 1874.
15:46Did you come across, and I mentioned one earlier, did you come across any other occurrences
15:51of locust swarms across the United States and North America?
15:57Anything that you came across of?
15:59Nothing to this extent.
16:00Nothing to this extent.
16:01I mean, this was worse than the Dust Bowl, as you mentioned, in the 18th.
16:05I mean, this was a, you had to be there to experience it.
16:09I mean, this was a disaster and a shock and no warning, and these locusts just ate everything
16:17in sight.
16:19And of course, this put in the motion of federal assistance during disasters like weather.
16:27This kind of put everything forward to the government now starting to help when we had
16:34these natural disasters.
16:35That's true.
16:36And those programs have grown and grown more in Lafayette and so on, to an extent that
16:42obviously those programs help a lot of people that are unfortunately hit by something outside
16:48their control.
16:49There is a debate now, though, have they gone too far?
16:54In certain situations where, for example, people build in flood-prone areas, and there's
16:59one case I think where a house, the federal government's paid to rebuild three or four
17:02times, where is the limit?
17:06And so that's a continuing debate.
17:09But certainly in this case, there was no question that the population and the people that lived
17:15in these areas, they couldn't have survived without help.
17:18No, I don't think there's any question.
17:20People believe the most conservative votes for states' rights would support this need
17:28in this situation because these people were desperate, and this was an extraordinary event.
17:35I want to thank Ackie Weather, founder and executive chairman and author of the book
17:39Invisible Iceberg, when climate and weather shaped history, Dr. Joel Myers, for joining
17:44me today.
17:46It's a fascinating story.
17:47My pleasure.
17:48All right.
17:49Thanks for joining us.
17:50Up next, do insects really have the ability to forecast the weather?
17:54We'll reveal the answer after the break.
18:04Welcome back to Invisible Iceberg.
18:06I'm Bernie Raindow.
18:07For hundreds of years, people have looked to the behavior of animals on the planet to
18:11help them predict the weather forecast.
18:15Our attention to insects and spiders, in particular, have helped many predict what they think the
18:19weather is going to do next.
18:21There are many insects-related weather folklore pertaining to short-term and long-term forecasts.
18:27Here are just a few examples.
18:29Fireflies in great numbers indicates fair weather.
18:33When cicadas are heard, dry weather will follow, and frost will come within six weeks.
18:38When hornets build their nests near the ground, expect a cold and early winter.
18:42When spiders in motion, indicate rain.
18:45The question is, are these valid insect behaviors that can predict the weather?
18:52While most of this is superstition, there has been some scientific evidence to suggest
18:57that the behavior in insects does change depending on the incoming weather conditions, particularly
19:02in the case of changing barometric pressure and rainfall.
19:06Being caught in a rain shower can be devastating to a small insect, so being able to predict
19:10changes in the atmosphere helps them better prepare for adverse weather conditions.
19:15There is also solid research that weather does impact mating in the number of insects.
19:21In fact, entomologists from the University of Sao Paulo study showed that lowering pressure
19:26decreased normal mating habits, while rising pressure did the exact opposite.
19:31I want to thank Acua, the founder and executive chairman, and author of the book, Invisible
19:36Iceberg, When Climate and Weather Shaped History, Dr. Joe Myers, for joining us today.
19:42And a big thanks to all of you for watching.
19:44If you have any questions or comments, send us an email at questions at accuweather.com.
19:49We look forward to seeing you next time.