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kiknkorea
Joined: 16 May 2008
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 Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2010 1:14 am Post subject: China's Dust Storms |
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BEIJING � The dust works its way through keyholes and window frames, and smells like a filthy brew of dirt, smoke and metallic particles. The sky turns magenta and whole buildings disappear. Eyes tear up and throats get sore from coughing.
Northern China's spring sandstorms blew in with particular ferocity over the weekend, bringing misery to people working outdoors Monday in Beijing and across a wide swath of the country.
"It gets in your throat, under your clothes, in your bed," said Beijing street sweeper Xue Yuan. "I hate it, but there's really nothing you can do."
The storms are a product of worsening desertification in Inner Mongolia and other Gobi Desert regions hundreds of miles to the north and west of Beijing caused by overgrazing, deforestation, drought and urban sprawl. Strong winds pick up the loose dust and dirt, mixing them with industrial pollution.
Beijing's air quality index was set at Level 4, one grade better than the most serious Level 5 that was reached Saturday as the mixture of sand, dust and pollution blasted the capital. City meteorologists said conditions would improve, but warned the sand would linger through midweek.
Record pollution levels were registered in Hong Kong, 1,240 miles (2,000 kilometers) to the south, partly due to the storms.
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| The latest sandstorm was expected to sweep into South Korea on Tuesday, said Kim Seung-bum of the Korea Meteorological Administration. The sandstorm that raked across China over the weekend caused the worst "yellow dust" haze in South Korea since 2005, and authorities issued a rare nationwide dust advisory. |
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100322/ap_on_re_as/as_china_sandstorm
Not sure how much worse this will get here, but I'm happy I'm not in China right now. |
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The Happy Warrior
Joined: 10 Feb 2010
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| Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2010 1:19 am Post subject: |
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| You're supposed to wear masks, but I haven't. Saturday was okay, but Sunday and especially Monday were disgusting. Tuesday, today, has been pretty clear, actually. |
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Fox
Joined: 04 Mar 2009
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| Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2010 1:31 am Post subject: |
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| For the last three days I've been miserable because of this damn dust. My nose is constantly stuffed up. It's terrible. |
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nautilus
Joined: 26 Nov 2005
Location: Je jump, Tu jump, oui jump!
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| Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2010 1:37 am Post subject: |
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Just one of the escalating effects of human-induced climate change.
Most of Chinas lakes and rivers have dried up significantly over the past 20 years. |
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visitorq
Joined: 11 Jan 2008
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| Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2010 8:28 am Post subject: |
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| nautilus wrote: |
Just one of the escalating effects of human-induced climate change.
Most of Chinas lakes and rivers have dried up significantly over the past 20 years. |
Except that humans have never and will never induce climate change. |
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Steelrails
Joined: 12 Mar 2009
Location: Earth, Solar System
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| Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2010 2:58 pm Post subject: |
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| visitorq wrote: |
| nautilus wrote: |
Just one of the escalating effects of human-induced climate change.
Most of Chinas lakes and rivers have dried up significantly over the past 20 years. |
Except that humans have never and will never induce climate change. |
Not even from mass nuclear warfare? |
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young_clinton
Joined: 09 Sep 2009
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| Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2010 3:30 pm Post subject: |
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| The dust storms coming out of China and Mongolia have been occuring for millenia. It's actually one of the reasons that Japan and probably South Korea havn't been deforested like other places that have large populations. It adds new soil to the ecosystems. |
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