Due to lack of vegetation, some regions suffer immense dust storms
A massive ecological disaster occurs devastating the world's crops, causing mass droughts and desertified regions. Much like the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, immense clouds of dust are pushed by straight-line winds into dust clouds that sandblast anything in their path.
2008 script[]
A dust storm is seen during a baseball game featuring the NY Yankees. Evidence would appear to suggest that this sequence also occurs in the 2014 film.