1988–1990 North American drought

The drought occasioned some of the worst blowing-dust events since 1977 or the 1930s in many locations in the Midwestern United States, including a protracted dust storm, which closed schools in South Dakota in late February 1988.

During the summer of 1988, the drought led to many wildfires in forested western North America, including the Yellowstone fires of 1988.

In California, the six-year drought ended in late 1992 as a significant El Niño event in the Pacific Ocean (and the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in June 1991) most likely caused unusually persistent heavy rains.

[5] The catastrophic drought continued across the Upper Midwest and northern Great Plains states during 1989, not officially ending until 1990.

[6][7] Dry conditions continued during 1989, affecting Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, parts of Nebraska,[8][9] Minnesota,[10][11] Kansas and large portions of Colorado.

[citation needed] Beginning in the spring, a persistent wind pattern brought hot dry air into the middle of the continent from the desert southwest, whereas in most years advection of warm and humid air from the Gulf of Mexico is the rule; therefore, despite the extremely high temperatures, elevation of apparent temperature was not as severe as would be the case during the 1995 heat wave.