Beijing:
The Chinese capital Beijing woke on Sunday morning shrouded in thick dust carrying particularly higher levels of hazardous particles, as a second sandstorm in two weeks hit the city due to winds from drought-hit Mongolia and northwestern China.
Visibility in the city was lowered, with the tops of some skyscrapers obscured by the sandstorm, and pedestrians have been forced to cover their eyes as gusts of dust swept by means of the streets.
Beijing’s official air good quality index reached a maximum level of 500 on Sunday morning, with floating particles identified as PM10 surpassing 2,000 micrograms per cubic metre in some districts.
Readings of smaller sized PM2.5 particles have been above 300 micrograms per cubic metre, far greater than China’s regular of 35 micrograms. PM2.5 particles are particularly dangerous simply because they are incredibly tiny and can enter the bloodstream, whilst PM10 is a bigger particle that can enter the lungs.
The China Meteorological Administration issued a yellow alert on Friday, warning that a sandstorm was spreading from Mongolia into northern Chinese provinces such as Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Liaoning and Hebei, which surrounds Beijing.
The meteorological workplace stated the current sandstorms to hit Beijing originated from Mongolia, exactly where comparatively warmer temperature this spring and lowered rain resulted in bigger locations of bare earth, producing favorable circumstances for sandstorms. Beijing may well face more sandstorms in April due to the unfavorable climate this year, the meteorological workplace stated.
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