Another sandstorm blows east from the desert

The second sandstorm in a week, carried by strong winds, covered a large area of the north on Thursday and was forecast to linger into Friday, the national weather authority said on Thursday.

The storm arrived as the State Forestry Administration said the country’s expanding shelter forest has worked better in reducing the dust in the originating areas but did little to block the long-distance storm.

At least seven provincial regions, including the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, Shanxi province and the Hebei-Beijing-Tianjin area, were engulfed by sand and dust in gusting winds on Thursday, the same areas hit by the year’s strongest sandstorm a week earlier, the China Meteorological Administration said.

The dusty weather is forecast to affect fewer regions, and with less severity. For example, Beijing saw the reading for PM10 — a major pollutant in dusty weather — climbing to 400 micrograms per cubic meter at noon on Thursday, according to the city’s environmental monitoring bureau.

On May 4, a sandstorm engulfed one-sixth of the country for two days, and the low visibility affected roads and flights in some cities.

In the latest sandstorm, dust engulfed northern regions quickly and caused severe air pollution, making some people question the influence of the shelter forest, which is supposed to stop the sand.

Since 1978, the central government has planted trees and expanded forests along the northwestern, north and northeastern regions, collectively called the Three-North Shelter Forest Program, the world’s largest forestation project.

To date, the reforestation covers over 290,000 square kilometers, and by 2020, the new woodlands will be expanded by over 16,400 sq km, according to the State Forestry Administration.