A dense fog, reducing visibility to under 500 meters in some
places, hit China's capital Beijing yesterday, causing flight
cancellations and the closing of several sections of highway,
Beijing Daily Messenger reports today.
Visibility began falling from 5:00 PM yesterday until 6:40 PM,
16 flights in Beijing Capital International Airport were delayed,
and 9 were canceled. The airport quickly activated rapid response
measures, informing passengers of the weather and flight schedules.
Additional staff members were drafted in to appease and serve the
stranded passengers.
Beijing Meteorological Bureau issued a Yellow Alert for heavy
fog at 7: 40 PM. Street lamps were tuned on 20 minutes ahead of
scheduled time. Information from the Beijing Traffic Management
Bureau headquarters showed that traffic flow on the city's ring
roads, trunk roads and liaison roads was within normal parameters.
For safety concerns, traffic authorities shut the bidirectional
Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan Highway from 11:00 AM yesterday, before
further closing the Beijing-Shenyang and Beijing-Shijiazhuang
Highways from 4:10 PM. Road information was also quickly displayed
through outdoor electronic screens.
"The fog will drop away today," a meteorological expert
predicted, "A moderate north wind will sweep Beijing today and blow
away the vapor gathered above the city."
Beijing's air quality was the day before yesterday, rising to
slightly polluted, and yesterday to Grade 4 of moderate heavy
pollution, for the first time this month. Experts from the Beijing
Environmental Protection Bureau said pollutant discharges and
emissions in Beijing were relatively high and vulnerable due to the
meteorological conditions.
Meteorologists said crowds of middle and high clouds gathered
above Beijing in recent days. Bad air flow and the low diffusivity
of the pollutants caused the dense fog.
As of yesterday, the number of days with an air quality index
equal or higher than grade II has reached 230, eight days away from
Bejing's goal of 238 this year.
(China.org.cn by Zhang Yunxing December 12, 2006)
