City of sand and smog prepares for a dusty spring

Smog or sand? Those were the options presented to Beijing residents on Thursday.

Beijingers experienced thick smog in the morning and haze from a yellow sandstorm in the afternoon, resulting in poor air quality, reduced visibility and disrupted traffic.

"Northern China is entering sandstorm season, which usually lasts from March to May," said Chen Zhenlin, spokesman for the China Meteorological Administration, at a news conference on Thursday.

According to real-time satellite images released by the National Meteorological Center, Beijing and Tianjin, Hebei, Shaanxi and Ningxia provinces and the Inner Mongolia autonomous region were hit by dusty winds on Thursday.

Beijing Municipal Environmental Monitoring Center said the sand mainly came from the middle parts of Inner Mongolia, and asked residents to wear face masks outside or stay indoors to avoid the heavily polluted air.

According to the center's latest statistics, the readings for PM 2.5 — hazardous particulate matter of 2.5 micrometers in diameter that can deeply penetrate the lungs, in northern Beijing reached 452 micrograms per cubic meter, potentially causing serious harm to people.

Smog in southern Beijing reduced visibility to less than 900 meters on Thursday morning.

Although the sandstorm's haze is expected to end on Thursday night, Chen said dusty weather may become active after March 10 with winds predicted.