Cold wave, sand storm hit Northwest China

A cold front has been sweeping across Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region since Wednesday. It's the strongest in six years, and has lowered temperatures in Urumchi by 26 degrees Celsius.

Meanwhile there's a sand storm in east Xinjiang and the south Xinjiang Basin, as well in western Gansu Province and the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region.

Visibility dropped to less than 100 meters in Xinjiang's Kashgar region. 5 flights from Kashgar Airport were cancelled, stranding more than 1,500 passengers. Xinjiang's Karamay experienced its windiest day in a decade. A 15-meter-high lamp-post was blown down. And in a southern village, a series of fires aggravated by the winds destroyed dozens of houses. Weather forecasts say the sand storm will continue until Sunday.