It is “THE GREAT AMERICAN DESERT!” It has always been hot and dry. The Chaco Canyon people were driven out, in the 1300s AD by a 25 year drought. It was dry when the Spanish first entered the area in the 1500s.
I was born on the High Plains, near the pivot point of the Dust Bowl in 1946. In 2013 and 2015 were the first years I ever saw the High Plains GREEN!
I was born on the High Plains...