Orange skies in Beijing after worst sandstorm in a decade
Surreal images from China's capital.
The biggest sandstorm in a decade descended on Beijing on Monday morning, making for some striking visuals:
Beijing air today, a bit sub-optimal 😱 pic.twitter.com/JMHB1DHujc
— Luke Giles (@lukegilesADL) March 15, 2021
People are recording the sand storm this morning in #Beijing… #weather pic.twitter.com/enmPjY8NrM
— Jinfeng Zhou (@Zhou_jinfeng) March 15, 2021
And of course, the memes:
The air quality index in Beijing showed readings exceeding 9,000 on Monday morning. Here's what that looks like:https://t.co/x0AE9KFz4J pic.twitter.com/fITAkmeBXh
— The China Project (@supchinanews) March 15, 2021
The sands came from Inner Mongolia, according to the China Meteorological Administration, which issued a yellow alert — the third highest level, underneath red and orange (we shudder to think what those look like). In Mongolia, at least six were killed over the weekend by the storm, according to Xinhua, while hundreds were reported missing.
The air quality index showed readings exceeding 9,000.
I can recall PM10 over 1000 from sandstorms a few times when I lived in Beijing, but this is nuts pic.twitter.com/c6n6W7WGIP
— Austin Ramzy (@austinramzy) March 15, 2021
Luckily, the skies have cleared a bit, as of this writing in the mid-afternoon. They have turned a shade of silver.
