China’s northern regions were hit by a sandstorm on Wednesday (April 15) covering cities in dust and slowing down road traffic.
Beijing’s skyline turned orange in the afternoon because of the sandy weather with many pedestrians wearing masks to protect themselves from the dust.
Pics: Beijing enveloped in a #sandstorm . Beijing’s sand-storm alert elevated to yellow at 09:40 UTC on Wed. pic.twitter.com/Rdhqg8yUu4— CCTVNEWS (@cctvnews) April 15, 2015
As strong winds blew dust and sand across the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in the northwest of the country, visibility dropped to less than ten metres in the areas southern basin causing electricity blackouts and traffic chaos.
The neighbouring province of Hebei had this year’s first sandstorm with road visibility reduced to less than seven hundred metres in several cities.
Huge #sandstorm arrives in #Beijing during PM #rushhour Wednesday as forecast. #China #nofilter pic.twitter.com/ziD4NNGuPA— Steven Jiang (@StevenCNN) Apr
