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Nicole Gonzalez
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Beijing has been shrouded in thick yellow and orange smog since Monday, and pollution has soared as the worst sandstorm in decades swept through China's "capital" from the Gobi Desert. The Central Weather Service called it "one of the worst sand storms in the last 10 years," and the range of sand and dust storms was greater than any of those storms in recent years. Beijing was hit by a major sandstorm from Mongolia on Monday morning, reducing visibility to below 1,000 meters in most areas and bringing PM10 into the city center.
Large parts of north and northwest China have been hit by sand and dust from the Gobi Desert in Mongolia, the world's largest desert region, according to the Central Weather Service. A total of 12 areas, including Beijing, Guangdong, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu, Heilongjiang, Sichuan, Liaoning, Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang, will gradually get sand or dust on Monday, it said.
Sandstorms are unusual in the Gobi Desert, the world's largest desert region, with an average annual rainfall of about 1.5 million cubic meters. However, they are not uncommon in China, according to the Central Weather Service and the National Weather Service.
Although sandstorms are common in the Gobi Desert, which stretches from northern China to southern Mongolia, widespread deforestation and soil erosion have exacerbated the problem. Although China has made efforts to curb the spread of desertification and combat the effects of climate change in neighboring countries such as Mongolia and the South China Sea, the sandstorm situation has not improved. Beijing faces sandstorms every year, with an average annual rainfall of about 1.5 million cubic meters, according to the National Weather Service.
Last year, Beijing said it expected northern China to be hit by some weak sandstorms as part of its reforestation efforts. Beijing said last year that it expected northern China to be hit by a "weak" sandstorm because of its "reforestation efforts," according to a report by the National Weather Service. Last year, Beijing said it expected fewer "weak" sandstorms in the southern part of the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and Inner Mongolia, due to the "neighborhoods" of the Gobi Desert and the South China Sea, as it said in an interview with the China Daily last week. Last year, Beijing said it expected a few "weak" sand storms "in northern China, owing to its" renewable "soil and water resources and its ability to recover from climate change.
Last year, Beijing said it expected some "weak" sandstorms in northern China as part of its "reforestation efforts," according to a report by the National Weather Service. The last few years, China Daily: Beijing said last year that it expected "some weak" sand storms in northern China as a result of "its reforestation efforts."
In an update at 0500 GMT on Wednesday, China's National Weather Service said dust and sand had blanketed 10 cities and provinces, including Beijing, Shandong, Hebei, Jiangsu, Henan, Liaoning, Hubei and Sichuan. A report on sandstorms in northern China, submitted by China's National Environmental Monitoring Center, showed that the sandstorm had spread to more than 100,000 square kilometers, including the cities of Wenzhou, Zhejiang, Guizhou, and Guangdong, as well as Hainan and Heilongjiang provinces in northeastern China.
China is the country most at risk from dust and sand storms and desertification, according to the World Bank. Beijing regularly faces sandstorms, but its proximity to China's deserts and mountains, and its high population density, mean it is more exposed to them than any other city in the world.
Every spring, sandstorms from the Gobi Desert moved into the city, where residents watched the sky turn yellow and orange and covered their faces to prevent dust from flying into their mouths and eyes. The storms raised concerns about Beijing's health several years ago, when the country experienced catastrophic air quality, then known as the Airpocalypse, prompting China's leaders to fight air pollution. If man-made air pollutants continue to rise in the coming decades, the sandstorm could become much more problematic, even if it becomes less frequent, according to China's EPA and the World Health Organization. If people - air pollution from coal-fired power plants and other sources of electricity and transport - continue to increase and sandstorms themselves become less frequent, this could also become a major threat to human health and environmental health in China, especially if they become more frequent and severe.