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Swarm 1
Tue Nov 23, 2004
Listen in RealAudio 
In 1875, weather conditions helped to create the largest aggregation of insects ever
recorded. Spurred on by drought and a conveyor belt of wind across the prairie, a
swarm of trillions of Rocky Mountain locusts converged on the western United States.
Jeff Rice spoke with Jeffrey Lockwood, author of the new book, "Locust."
JR: Rocky Mountain locust outbreaks in the west were once seen as a national
emergency for farmers: disasters comparable to hurricanes in their destructive power.
Entomologist Jeffrey Lockwood:
JL: It was almost like watching your crops--if you can think of this—as melting before
your eyes and underneath this bristling blanket of locusts... there's descriptions of the
locust consuming saddles, leather gloves, chewing the handle of farm implements...
JR: Trillions of locusts blotted out the sun like giant storm clouds. The biggest swarm
ever recorded came in June of 1875. Locust populations had exploded because of a
long drought. And a low-level wind current helped disperse these winged creatures.
JL: It's actually called the Great Plains low-level jet. And in the summer it can blow for
days on end all the way stretching from the gulf coast up to the Canadian border.... and
the locusts basically were on a conveyor belt of air.
JR: Swarming Locusts hopped on for a ride, creating a gigantic stream of destruction
stretching from the plains states on into Colorado.
JL: The swarm was more than a thousand miles long and several hundred miles
wide. An absolutely phenomenal conveyor belt of locusts.
JR: Enough locusts to completely cover the states of Wyoming and Colorado put
together. But just as amazing is that 25 years later, after the so-called "perfect swarm"
of 1875, the Rocky Mountain locust mysteriously went extinct. The answer to this
mystery eluded scientists until recently.
Tomorrow, Jeff Rice explores this mystery. The Weather Notebook is a program of the
Mount Washington Observatory, funded by Subaru of America.
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