North China Experiences Another Floating Sand Weather

Northern China Hit Again by Sandstorm

At around 2 pm on April 25 another sandstorm hit north China's Tianjin Municipality. A northwest wind of five to six degrees caused aged pedestrians to go into shops immediately for shelter, and plants and flowers on the roadsides waved in the strong wind.

Local meteorologists said that the wind will remain strong through tonight, but is expected to abate tomorrow. Liu Angrang, director of the Tianjin Municipal Meteorological Station, said that there has been floating sand weather in Tianjin when sandstorms hit Beijing. The two cities are about 100 kilometers apart.

Meteorologist in Beijing said that all the seven previous seven sandstorms that began hitting Beijing in early spring can be attributed to sandstorms in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in north China.

The region now is still feeling the eighth sandstorm, which started yesterday afternoon, and has been the longest one so far, said local meteorologists.

Officials with the region's civil affairs department said a preliminary survey shows that the economic losses caused by this time sandstorm is estimated to exceed four million yuan (about 480, 000 U.S. dollars).

Liu Jingtao, chief engineer with the local meteorological bureau, said that the highest wind speed for the region reached 27 meters per second, with visibility under 400-600 meters. He added that the continuing sandstorm also caused floating sand weather in provinces and autonomous regions to the south including Gansu, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Hebei.

The region's meteorologists predict another sandstorm for April 27 to 29, which will affect the areas of Beijing, Hebei, and as far south as the Yangtze River basin.

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