Beijing Rocked by Record Breaking Sandstorms

The Ancestors are glorious indeed.

In what communist state officials are proclaiming as “the worst sandstorm” in a century., Beijing has been ravaged by a massive sandstorm coming in primarily from the Gobi Desert.

The storm has cast much of the Chinese capital city of Beijing in brown smog causing harmful dust to cloud the air, lowering air quality to hazardous levels and forcing hundreds of flights to be canceled.
Officials also are reporting “No walk zones” or areas that are unsafe for local commuters to travel through.
On Monday morning the Chinese National Meteorological Center announced a national emergency for 13 provinces and cities, asking residents to close windows and stay inside.

Transportation has been severely hampered by the storm, causing a total of 496 Chinese flights to be canceled. Trains have been delayed due to low visibility, and thousands of resulting car accidents have been reported.

Beijing’s air quality is now being rated at the hazardous 999 level — emergency conditions according to the air quality index. The index is list 100 as levels unacceptable for human consumption. The Chinese’s air quality dropped to dangerous levels in recent weeks as tiny particles of air pollution hit 655 micrograms per cubic meter of air. According to World Health Organization guidelines, anything above 25 is unsafe.
During the current sandstorm, the levels of particulate matter 10 micrometers or less in size — called PM10 — in Beijing reached 8,000 micrograms per cubic meter, more than 160 times the safe limit set out by the World Health Organization (WHO).

Local Chinese papers have reported that at least 10 people have died in the storm.
“This is the most intense sandstorm weather our country has seen in 10 years, as well as it covering the broadest area,” China’s National Meteorological Center said after issuing a weather alert.