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A resident in Harbin wears a mask to protect against dust for both himself and his pet |
At 6 AM on March 10, a resident of Harbin, Mr. Li Wei, noticed that the sky was not as clear as it had been the day before.
Surprisingly, when looking down from the 6th floor, the entire city was shrouded in a thick layer of dust.
Information from the Meteorological Station indicated that starting from March 9, dust had appeared in Mongolia, the Inner Mongolia desert, Gansu Province, and Henan, gradually moving eastward to Liaoning and Jilin by March 10.
This air flow also reached counties and cities in Heilongjiang Province, including Harbin. By the afternoon of March 10, the dust storm had moved out of Heilongjiang, but at the same time, a heavy snowfall occurred in the southwestern part of the province.
This “dust storm” also caused pollution levels in Beijing to rise from moderate (level 2) to serious (level 5) within five days. Residents in the area could even smell the “scent” of dust in the air. This has been recorded as the largest dust storm so far while spring weather is beginning to set in northern China.
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Beijingers facing “pollution” |
According to a survey by the Air Quality Monitoring Station, the concentration of inhalable dust particles peaked at the highest level (2500 mg of dust/m3 of air) and gradually decreased by the afternoon of March 10 (down to about 500 mg/m3).
According to the latest data from the Meteorological Station on March 11, a cold air mass swept into Beijing with a north wind of level 5-6. As a result, the climate here became clearer with less haze.
Although the dust will clear up in the next few days, the temperature is gradually dropping (5°C in the morning and -3°C at night), and the cold wind has made the city’s climate dry. Meteorology experts have also advised residents to pay attention to drinking plenty of water and regularly moisturizing their skin.
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