When was the last sandstorm in Beijing?

On 2021March 15, Beijing ushered in cool dusty weather. In the morning, the sky in Wangjing area turns yellow to the naked eye and the visibility is insufficient. Image source: people's vision

China Youth Daily Client Beijing March 15 (reporter Zhang Zhongqing, trainee of China Youth Daily) Beijing was hit by a sandstorm this morning. According to the Weibo information of Beijing environmental monitoring, at 9: 00 on March 15, the concentration of PM 10 in the sixth district of Beijing was as high as 8 108 μ g/m3, which was another sandstorm that plagued Beijing after a lapse of six years.

Zhao Yingmin, vice minister of the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, said today that the sandstorm was sudden, and the dust went straight to Beijing with the strong wind, and the concentration far exceeded the forecast. This shows that human's understanding of nature is limited, the ecological fragility of China is still serious, and ecological protection has a long way to go.

According to the report of Beijing Meteorological Bureau, the last sandstorm in Beijing occurred on April 5, 20 15, and there was a sandstorm on March 8, 2020. Since 1980s, the average number of sandstorm days in Beijing in March is 2.4 days, and the most frequent occurrence since 2000 is 200 1, which is 9 days.

On the evening of March 14, Weibo, Beijing Environmental Monitoring, predicted that from the morning of March 15, the northwest high pressure would gradually affect Beijing, and Beijing might be affected by the upstream dust transportation and strong wind and sand blowing, and the PM 10 concentration would increase obviously. At 7: 00 on March 15, Weibo, Beijing Environmental Monitoring, said that the dust originated in southern Mongolia gradually went south with the airflow last night and affected Beijing from north to south at 3: 00 in the morning.

But the sudden concentration of PM 10 far exceeded the forecast. According to the real-time report of Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau, the concentration of PM 10 in Beijing continued to rise at 8- 10 today, and the concentration of PM 108 μ g/m3 reached its peak at 9: 00.

Where does the sandstorm come from? The information from China Meteorological Bureau shows that: First, the temperature in Mongolia, including the northwest region, is obviously high, generally at 5-8℃, and there is little precipitation in most parts of outer Mongolia recently, and the surface conditions are very conducive to the occurrence of sandstorms; Secondly, under the influence of strong Mongolian cyclone, 6-8 gusts have appeared in northern Xinjiang to central and western Gansu and most of Inner Mongolia, including northern North China, providing good thermal and dynamic conditions for the occurrence of sandstorm weather.

Zhao Yingmin emphasized that in recent years, China has made remarkable achievements in air pollution control, and at the same time, it is developing its economy, which is unprecedented among similar economies. It is regarded by the United Nations as a plan for China to control air pollution. "However, judging from today's sandstorm, our task is still very heavy. Although the natural factors of this sandstorm are the main factors, it reminds us that the ecological fragility problem we are facing is still serious, especially in the winter in the north. Ecological environmental protection has a long way to go. "