the day in beijing it was painted clear, with a radiant sun at noon in the middle of a blue sky with just a few clouds. It was a somewhat hot spring day, with a temperature of 20 degrees Celsius, a bit high for the weekly average, but which accounted for the change of season. However, at four in the afternoon, everything turned yellow.
The color was taking over the environment and it felt how the strong wind hit the windows and knocked over the bicycles and electric motorcycles that were parked in the street. Suddenly, those of us who did not have masks began to sneeze and tasted sand in our mouths. The eyes burned. A message for wechatthe messaging app in China, alerted us: “Please protect yourself from changes in the weather today. Avoid going out if you don’t have to“.
It was March 10, 2023. The temperature remained high, at 21 degrees Celsius, but there was an alarming detail in the applications: high contamination. On cell phones, it appeared that the air quality index (AQI) it was at its maximum, at 500. On the IQAir page, the Swiss company that monitors air quality, the index was at 1,091, which means ‘dangerous’. That scale is measured from 0 to 300, where 0 is good and more than 301 is dangerous.
For about six hours, until after 10 p.m., the environment was cloudy and heavily polluted. The yellow color, produced by the sand, disappeared almost an hour later. The next day, everything dawned clearer, but the temperature dropped abruptly to 0 degrees Celsius on average.
What has happened in the last week
On March 22, another similar storm occurred over Beijing. And this week, between April 9 and 13, at least 15 regions of China and some 409 million people were affected by another sand and dust storm, according to figures from the authorities.
On the night of Monday, April 10, the Chinese capital reached a peak of severe pollution, which continued for the next three days. According to the Environmental Monitoring Center, a large area of sand and dust appeared in Mongolia and the northeast of the country. The strong winds in this area moved the material towards central regions.
On social media, people posted how in the north, the sky turned dark orange and visibility dropped to less than 1,000 meters —something that causes this type of phenomenon. Thousands of land and air transports were cancelled.
This year’s second-strongest sandstorm is continuing to sweep through China, with forecasters predicting the haze will come to an end this week. That still hasn’t stopped the closure of many locations and slowed transportation in some areas. Take a look. #CGTNamerica #InsideChina pic.twitter.com/5moDY4zmb4
— CGTN America (@cgtnamerica) April 12, 2023
Registered data shows that some 200 cities in China were on alert for serious pollution and at least 90 of them had the AQI index above 500.
According to experts, these sandstorms would have occurred as product of a cold front and a cyclone of strong winds. The sand lifting was caused by the dry season and high temperatures, meteorologists tell the local press.
By order of the authorities, the outdoor operations of Beijing cultural enterprises and institutions were halted. Between April 12 and 13, the concentration of sand and dust flowed towards the south of the country, but the cloudiness remained in the cities.
Forecasts from the Beijing Meteorological Observatory report that the dust will gradually clear away on the night of April 14. However, the alert is maintained for the southern regions of the country for the weekend.
DAVID ALEJANDRO LOPEZ BERMUDEZ
TIME
In networks: @lopez03david
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#photos #impressive #sandstorms #Beijing #experienced