- The sandstorm is the strongest and the most sweeping one in nearly a decade.
- Flights were canceled and classes suspended due to the sandstorm.
- Despite years of greening efforts, sandstorm still a threat, said expert.
Beijing, together with many regions in northern China, experienced a sandstorm on Monday.
The sandstorm is the strongest and the most sweeping one in nearly a decade, according to the National Meteorological Center.
Starting from Monday to 8 am Tuesday, affected by cold fronts and heavy winds, floating sand and dust are expected to sweep parts of Xinjiang, Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Gansu, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Shanxi, Hebei, Beijing and Tianjin, forecast the center.
Some regions in Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Shaanxi and Shanxi will be hit by strong sandstorms, the center said.
Related: Sandstorm grounds flights in Gansu, warnings issued in N China
Sandstorm conditions lead to flight cancellations in Beijing
Zhang Bihui, a senior meteorologist with the NMC, said higher-than-usual temperatures and little rainfall in Mongolia and North China recently, as well as heavy winds contributed to the strong sandstorm.
The center has advised the public to take precautions against the heavy winds and sandstorms, and suggested that drivers prepare for poor visibility.
The dust will move further southward from Tuesday, and affect central China and the northern part of the Yangtze River Delta, according to the center.
Related: At least 6 killed in dust, snow storms in Mongolia
[Video shows vehicles driving on the road in Beijing during the sandstorm/Zhu Xingxin]
Beijing was enveloped in yellow dust on Monday morning with visibility at less than 1 km, as the city's meteorological department issued a yellow warning for sandstorms, the third-most hazardous level.
In response to the dusty weather, Beijing Daxing International Airport launched a low visibility operation mechanism as visibility fell to only 400-800 meters at the airport, affecting a number of flights.
According to its weather report, the sandstorm blew from north China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region due to the effect of cyclones and strong winds. It arrived at northwestern Hebei province neighboring Beijing on Sunday night before moving toward the nation's capital.
The concentration of hazardous airborne PM10 particles in most areas exceeded 2,000 micrograms per cubic meter on Monday, according to the Beijing Municipal Ecological and Environmental Monitoring Center.
Schools, including kindergartens, primary and high schools, have suspended classes in Manzhouli and Baotou, two cities in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, due to the sweeping sandstorms.
In Baotou city, all outdoor events at kindergartens and schools have been ordered to cease on Monday.
In addition, the airport in Manzhouli has also been temporarily closed for safety reasons noon Monday, according to city authorities.
Relevant departments and rescue workers have been required to stand by 24 hours and prepare for a possible blackout in the city, authorities said.
It has triggered many cities to issue high level warnings. For example, Hohhot, capital of Inner Mongolia, has upgraded to an orange alert for sandstorms, the second-highest in the three-tiered warning system.
Though China has witnessed fewer sandstorms in recent years thanks to sustained efforts made in afforestation and combating desertification, Zhang Bihui with the NMC said a severe and sweeping sandstorm could still occur under extremely bad atmospheric conditions.
"On one hand, we should continue the greening and anti-desertification efforts and improve overall ecological environment", he said. "On the other hand, we will enhance monitoring and forecast work to better serve the public."
In 1978, China launched the Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program. The afforestation project covers 13 provincial-level regions in the north, northeast and northwest and equates to 42.4 percent of the country's total land area.
Over the past more than 40 years, about 7.88 million hectares of windbreak trees have been planted, 336,000 square kilometers of desertified land has been managed and more than 10 million hectares of grassland has been protected and restored, according to a report released by the National Forestry and Grassland Administration.
Xinhua contributed to the story.
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