Dust and snow storms expected through Sunday

The National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) is issuing warnings of intense dust and snow storms throughout the country as meteorologists forecast such storms will not cease until next week.

Nearly every part of Mongolia suffered from enraging dust and snow storms on Tuesday, including an intense dust storm which swept Ulaanbaatar and turned the sky “yellow”.

According to Unuudur newspaper, a man died on April 18 as the steel frame of his greenhouse collapsed on top of him during a particularly powerful storm in Mandal soum of Selenge Province. The man reportedly died at a local hospital due to injuries sustained from the accident.

In Bulgat soum of Bulgan Province, a herder family lost their winter shelter, 17 sheep and 20 lambs in a fire, which spread fast as result of strong winds, reported NEMA. A local emergency worker reported that the fire ignited from the shelter’s chimney.

In Dornod Province, military officers at the Border Unit No.0132 found around 2,000 horses that had gone astray during a snow storm on Tuesday. The horses have since been returned to their owner, who had settled (around 70 ki- lometers from the border) in Bayantumen soum of Choibalsan city. The herder could have faced a loss of more than 1.4 billion MNT (the value of the horses) if the border guards hadn’t found the horses.

Weather forecasts indicate that light rain combined with wet snow will occur in central and northeastern parts of Mongolia on April 21, which will move to eastern provinces on April 22, and eastern most and western most regions on April 23. The average wind speed is estimated to be around 15 to 17 meters per second, which will result in snow and dust storms, warned weather forecasters.

In addition, in mountainous regions - including Darkhad Valley, Ider and Tes River Valleys, and Khangai, Khentii and Khuvsgul – temperatures will be around 6 degrees Celsius during the day and dip to -10 degrees Celsius at night. In southern parts of the Gobi Desert, temperatures will be around 18 degrees Celsius during the day and 0 degrees at night. Temperatures will be relatively warmer in other regions, with up to 13 degrees Celsius during the day and -6 degrees Celsius at night.