Beijing will suffer between eight to 11 days of sand weather in
the upcoming spring, said chief of the city's meteorological
station on Thursday.
The estimation was close to the average level of 9.7 days in
recent years, but far exceeding the three-day record last year,
said Guo Hu, head of Beijing Municipal Meteorological Station.
Guo attributed sand and dust weather to higher temperature and
less rainfall in the sand source area around Beijing and more
frequent activities of cold airs in spring this year.
He pointed out that Beijing experienced a warmer climate last
year and suffered from nine consecutive years of less
precipitation.
In 2007 in particular, Beijing registered a record average
temperature of 14 degrees Celsius since 1951 and ten days with
temperatures higher than 35 degrees Celsius -- more than the
average 5.7 days in recent years.
The average precipitation last year was 517.9 millimeter, 11
percent less than the average level in recent years, he said.
(Xinhua News Agency January 4, 2008)