Sandstorm

What local media are calling the worst of the three major sandstorms to hit the capital this spring, rolled into town on Tuesday. A lot of the sand and dust must have lingered in the air as the Ministry of Environmental Protection reported that pollution in the capital reached an eye-irritating 408 yesterday. The picture (left) was taken from Dongzhimen, but seems to indicate that the storm was not as severe as the one that hit on Mar 17 as can be seen by comparing it with the first image below that was taken by a Beijinger forum user and this video captured by Reuters. The 408 reading is likely to be the highest since the index first hit 421 and then peaked at 500 a few days after Christmas last year. December seems to be the worst time for Beijing's air quality, with Danwei reporting the index hitting 500 back in 2006 but it should be noted that the gray soup that appears in December is different from the sandy brown muck that arrives in Spring – see the two images below for a nice comparison of the different tones.

Links and Sources
Qianlong: 沙尘袭京城能见度下降 预计今夜消散(image)
People's Daily: Floating dust hits Beijing
Ministry of Environmental Protection: Air Pollution Index (Eng)
The Beijinger Blog: Pic of the Week: 10:05 from my window
The Beijinger Blog: Get Ready for Grit
The Beijinger Blog: Holy Smoke, Beijing!
NYTimes: Beijing’s Olympic Quest: Turn Smoggy Sky Blue (image)
Danwei: Every Breath you Take
Reuters: Video of Sandstorm in March