20100323 Beijing: Onslaught of The Mongolian Cyclone(1)

clipped from www.time.com Beijingers walk at Tiananmen Square during a strong a sandstorm that hit the Chinese capital on March 20, 2010 Tiananmen Square was filled with choking whirlwinds, cars and bicycles were coated in a thin layer of wheat-colored dust, flights were delayed and on March 20 the air pollution index reached 500 — the worst level possible — due to the high level of particulates in the air. A day later, several cities in eastern China including Shanghai, Nanjing, Suzhou and Hangzhou reported similarly bad air quality. Hong Kong and Taiwan also reported dangerously high levels of pollution. (See pictures of the Mongolian Cyclone dusting up Beijing.) Springtime sandstorms are common in China, as Siberian winds blow dust and sand off the Gobi desert across east Asia — sometimes as far as North America. But the size of the storm that began Saturday has surpassed what China's capital has seen recently.