The sandstorm in Beijing is expected to weaken and dissipate by Tuesday evening, according to Zhang Linna, the chief weather forecaster at the Beijing Meteorological Service.

The public has been advised to stay away from tall buildings, billboards and temporary structures and be cautious of falling objects during the alert period for strong winds and sandstorms. Drivers have been urged to pay close attention to road conditions and drive slowly.

Earlier on Sunday, China's national observatory renewed a blue alert for sandstorms in several areas of the country's northern regions, along with a warning for windy weather and temperature drops.

The center also predicted that in this spring, the sandstorm weather in the northern regions will be more frequent than that of the same period in the past decade.

As a result of the formation of sandstorms, Gao Xin, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that this year, in spring and winter, there was not much precipitation, and since late February, the weather turned warm, and the temperature of the sand source rapidly increased to make it exposed. At the same time, a cold wave occurred on March 10, and under the effect of cold air and high wind, a wide range of sandy weather was formed.

Gao Xin said that since the 1980s and 1990s, due to China's Three-North Shelter Forestation Project, the Restoring Farmland to Forest and other major projects, there has been a significant reduction in sand and dust storms in China. It is also due to the climate transition to warming and humidification in the northwest. "I think it is still relatively stable in the past decades," Gao added.

China has a four-tier, color-coded weather warning system, with red representing the most severe weather, followed by orange, yellow and blue.

(Cover image via CFP)

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