From the night of April 16, certain areas of north China, including central and western parts of Inner Mongolia, central and eastern parts of the Northwest and northern part of the North, witnessed a huge-scale floating dust, a result of westward wind in the Mongolia cyclone. This is the largest strong floating dust even known to North Chin since 2003.

Beijing haunted by floating dust

According to the State Administration of Forestry, the sand and dust affected 562 counties, prefectures and cities of ten provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities including Xinjiang, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Hebei and Beijing, touching an area about 1.61 million sq.km and 200 million population.

Stepping out of their homes this morning, many Beijing residents were badly frightened by the scene: the ground was carpeted by yellow dust; parked cars looked like pieces of relics just unearthed; the sky was grayish yellow and the air smelled dust. Authorities say this is the eighth time that Beijing is choked by sand and dust coming from outside since this spring, and also the most serious one, with a descent of 10.76 tons of dust per sq.km on the city proper.

Under the joint influence of Mongolia cyclone and cold air, weather forecast by the Central Meteorological Station says, some areas in central and western Inner Mongolia, northern Shaanxi, northern Shanxi, northern Hebei and Beijing will continue to suffer in coming two days; central and western Inner Mongolia, in particular, will be hit by sandstorm. In coming three days, strong wind will sweep the North and Northeast as well as areas along the Yellow River and Huaihe River, bringing with a sharp decline in temperature; eastern Inner Mongolia and the Northeast will see rain and snow. It is predicted that dust over the city proper of Beijing will fade away beginning from the noon of April 18.

Meteorologists warned the public against lung diseases caused by inhaling too much dust. Children are particularly vulnerable because they are shorter and therefore are exposed to larger grains of dust. Experts advised residents to stay home as much as possible, saying a better job should also be done at construction sites in wind and dust prevention.

By People's Daily Online