Sands and dusts enveloped Beijing twice in March. It shocked most of us although we’ve encountered it several times during the past years. The disaster consisted of three similar sand-related disastrous weather phenomena of different intensities -- a sandstorm or dust storm, drifting sands and blowing sands. It was also the decade's worst to have hit north and Northwest China's drought-prone areas, said weather officials and experts.

　　March 15’s: Wind carrying sand particles hit this Chinese capital Thursday, according to the Beijing Municipal Meteorological Observatory.

　　This is the first sandy breeze in Beijing this spring, and it brought less sand than in previous years, as a result of the growing area planted with trees and grass in Beijing. However, there was still 26,000 tons of sand blown to Beijing according to the statistics from the China environment protection bureau. It began to affect Beijing from the afternoon of March 15 and didn’t stop until the late morning of March 20.

　　March 20’s: Whipped by high winds, a thick storm of choking sand and dust rolled in from northwestern China and turned Beijing's skies an apocalyptic yellow on March 20, Wednesday, cutting visibility to less than 100 meters. It is the worst sandstorm hit Beijing in recent years.

　　Although the meteorological department had forecast the sandstorm on Tuesday and warned citizens to prepare for it, many people were shocked by the yellow sky this morning.

　　The Palace Museum (the forbidden city) in central Beijing was swathed in yellow dust at noon Wednesday, and the portrait of Mao Zedong on the Tian' anmen gate tower became obscure.

　　In Tian' anmen square, which used to be crowded with travelers taking photos and flying kites, only sand and press-photographers could be seen. Few pedestrians could be seen in the streets, but the number of traffic policemen was increased, ensuring the expressways and airport is in order.

　　In Wangfujing Street and Xidan, the city's main commercial centers, pedestrians wearing scarves and gauze masks scurried along with their heads lowered to blowing grit. Many women in Beijing wrapped delicate silk scarves around their heads when venturing on to the city streets. No, the scarf is not a fashion accessory and they don't have them on every day. It's only on windy days that they wrap what has now become a shield in the battle against the dust storms that occasionally lash the capital. Many followed this practice which can be termed safety-fashion.

　　"I'm almost suffocating in this god-damned sandstorm. My ears and nose were filled with sand and I can hardly open my eyes. But I have to go to work." one pedestrian grumbled. The sand and dust particles in the air are relatively small, so they could easily invade people's breathing systems.

　　Some shops had opened in the morning before the sandstorm came had to put up shutters because of the severe sandstorm.

　　A senior citizen living in Beijing for more than 60 years said such weather had seldom been seen in the city in recent years. "I remember seeing such sandstorms many, many years ago." "In my memory, Beijing's spring and winter have always been accompanied by high velocity winds carrying dust. But the situation is much serious at present," while the 43-year-old Huang said. "But people seldom complain about it because we've accepted it as a natural feature of Beijing."

　　In the southern part the city, the sky was darkened by a cloud of sand, forcing vehicles and shops to turn on their lights. The vehicles crawled ahead with their light turned dark blue in the sandstorm.

　　Dong Xuhui, an expert of“The Sandstorm Research Group”said, March 20’s sandstorm was the first sandstorm in recent years, for that the others could only be called sandy weather according to meteorology. A record 30,000 tons of sands and dusts fell in Beijing.

　　The municipal government and information service departments have taken emergency measures to deal with the sandstorm.

　　Liu Yan, an official from the safety production department of the Beijing Economic Commission, said that an emergency circular has been issued to stop outside work in elevated areas and warning that construction sites should be effectively covered for fear the constructing appliances be blow down and sand be blow away. Large advertising boards in the city were also being monitored against the wind and sand.

　　A policeman on the Chang'an Street said that the number of vehicles and their speeds had decreased. No serious accidents have yet been reported. Experts warned citizens to take care if venturing out in the weather.

　　Before dawn of Wednesday morning, the cold air brought some rain drops to Beijing. The rain has helped to control local dust, but failed to stop the strong sandstorm, said experts.

　　Outside Beijing

　　The serious sandstorm has hit eight provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions in northwest and north China since Tuesday, affecting an area of 1.4 million square kilometers, according to the State Forestry Administration.

　　Besides Beijing, the sandstorm has swept Gansu, Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Hebei, and Tianjin, affecting 130 million people, 285,000 hectares of arable land and 2.36 million hectares of grassland.

　　Part of Gansu Province encountered the biggest sandstorm this year on March 19. In the provincial capital Lanzhou, the visibility was only 400 meters and in some areas, the sandstorm even reduced the visibility to zero. At the same time, the temperature in the province's Hexi Corridor dropped sharply by 12 to 19 degrees Celsius with snowfall. It seemed that severe winter came around.

　　The sandstorm hit central and western Inner Mongolia from Tuesday night, when strong sandstorm also swept the northern part of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Shaanxi, Shanxi and central and northern Hebei province.

　　In addition, the sandstorm has seriously affected the land and air transportation in the regions. But fortunately, casualties or serious damage were reported following this week's sandstorm.

　　The severe sandstorm that was hovering over Beijing for the past few days finally moved out of the city Friday morning, leaving a heavy layer of dust and sand on the ground. The dusty weather was moving northeast toward the Korean Peninsula, said meteorologists with the China Meteorological Bureau.