For the fourth time in a month, a strong sandstorm has covered Beijing and the northeastern parts of China, forcing some locals to stay inside to avoid the toxic air.
Pictures from Monday showed the Chinese capital covered in an orange haze that persisted into Tuesday, though the situation has started to improve.
Beijing authorities recommended healthy adults to refrain from outdoor exercise and told youngsters and the elderly to stay inside.
Also, residents were urged to close their windows and put in face shields and masks.
On Monday, the air quality index soared to “severely polluted” levels, according to Beijing Municipal Ecological and Environmental Monitoring Center.
Concentrations of PM10 particles exceeded 1,321 micrograms per cubic meter at 9 p.m. on Monday, according to the center – almost 30 times the daily average guideline of 45 micrograms per cubic meter set by the World Health Organization.
PM10 are particles of pollution that are less than 10 micrometers in diameter and can irritate your eyes and nose and travel to your lungs.
Even smaller particles referred to as PM2.5 can travel deeper into your lungs and potentially enter your bloodstream. Levels of PM2.5 have been “hazardous” in Beijing for some of the past 48 hours, according to the Air Quality Index, which monitors real-time air quality in major cities worldwide.
Beijing is regularly hit with sandstorms in the spring with the smog made worse by rising industrial activity and rapid deforestation throughout northern China.
The latest sandstorm is the fourth to hit the country since March 10, and the eighth since the start of the year, state media reported.
The most severe sandstorm so far this year occurred on March 22, when PM10 particles hit 1,667 micrograms per cubic meter, according to the Beijing Municipal Ecological and Environmental Monitoring Center.
This time, the affected areas stretched as far south as Shanghai to parts of Heilongjiang, the country’s northernmost province, according to China’s Central Meteorological Observatory.
Other areas affected included Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Gansu, Ningxia, Shanxi, Hebei, Tianjin, Shandong, Henan, Jiangsu, Anhui and Hubei, according to the national observatory.
China’s National and Grassland Administration said sand and dust from the southern part of Mongolia and the western part of Inner Mongolia were carried southeast by air currents, triggering the present storm.
One Chinese internet user on Weibo, China’s heavily censored equivalent of Twitter, complained about the pungent smell.
“It smells very earthy,” she said.
Another user compared the storm to the sci-fi film “Blade Runner” and urged others to “just wear protection” when going out.