Chinese meteorological experts said Thursday that there will be no sandstorms in the near future as bad as the one that blanketed China this week, although dust flows are still lingering in a few areas.
No casualties or serious damage were reported following this week's sandstorm. It was the worst so far this year and turned the spring sky yellow or even dark in 17 provinces and autonomous regions throughout China.
The disaster consisted of three similar sand-related disastrous weather phenomena of different intensities - a sandstorm or dust storm, drifting sands and blowing sands. It was also the decade's worst to have hit North and Northwest China's drought-prone areas, said weather officials and experts.
Fortunately, the worst was already over by yesterday as it is predicted that such disastrous weather will not make a comeback in the next three days.
By Thursday, the dusty weather was moving northeast toward the Korean Peninsula, said meteorologists with the China Meteorological Bureau.
Drifting sands or blowing sands are likely to reoccur in parts of North, Northwest and Northeast China at lower intensities at the end of this month, along with two upcoming cold-air systems, warned Zhang Guocai, director of the National Meteorological Centre.
A worsening environment, dry and unconsolidated layers of soil, strong winds and persistent droughts are to blame for the sandstorm and blowing sands, Zhang said.
Zhang said that meteorological data indicate that the number of days with blowing sands has tended to decrease in the north since the 1990s, with fewer windy days.
Although it was still windy in Beijing yesterday, the city's major shopping malls and tourist spots saw slightly more visitors than the day before, though the number was still far less than on normal days.
Scarves and masks were still popular buys in local stores as people sought to stop the dust and fine sand entering their respiratory tracts.
Some enterprising newspaper kiosks in Beijing's streets also began selling scarves and masks to passers-by.
Wang Jun, a kiosk owner in the capital's Chaoyang District, said he sold more than 30 masks yesterday morning. He said the profits even surpassed his income from selling newspapers throughout the day.
Food-supply companies also profited from the dust clouds' silver lining.
Many people frustrated by the bad air conditions chose to phone in food from outside to their workplaces. Major food-supply companies in Beijing sent three to four times more food to customers on Wednesday and Thursday.
The 221 weather-forecast telephone information service received more than 500 calls on Wednesday - a record high.
(China Daily March 22, 2002)
