Strong winds, sandstorms and concentrated dust are battering northern China, causing travel chaos and damaging property.
A 100-meter-high sand wall rolled down at noon Monday in Shandan County of Zhangye City, engulfing the residential area and reducing visibility to 10 meters.
Extraordinary footage showed the sandstorm dominating northern Gansu province.
The country’s top meteorological authority has issued a yellow weather warning to more than 10 provinces, warning it could be China’s most severe sandstorm so far this year.
China has a four-tier, color-coded weather warning system, with red representing the most extreme weather conditions, followed by orange, yellow and blue.
Jiayuguan city was also plagued by thick dust and chilling temperatures, dropping to -2C (28.4F).
The local sanitation department responded by sending in fog cannons and water sprinklers to reduce dust to minimize air pollution.
The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region was also hit by strong winds and dust, reducing visibility to less than 50m in some areas.
Strong winds battered the city of Aksu around noon on Monday, carrying sand and dust into the air.
The weather prompted the local traffic police department to activate a severe weather response, urging drivers to be extra careful.
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Hejing County in the Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture of Bayingolin was also shrouded – with visibility less than 100m due to weather conditions.
The National Meteorological Center warned that the weather will continue to be sandy and dusty until Wednesday in the southern part of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, as well as in the northeast part of China, including Qinghai, Gansu, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Heibei. , Beijing, Tianjin, Heilongjiang, Liaoning and Jilin.
In 2021, China experienced its biggest sandstorm in over a decade with skies over Beijing turning orange.
The city’s 21.7million residents have been told to stay indoors as air quality indices recorded an “unsafe” rating.
