Sand storms to sweep across North China
(Xinhua)
Updated: 2006-03-09 15:56

Most parts of North China will be choked with dust and sand from Thursday to Saturday, according to the China Meteorological Administration (CMA).

The dust storms will be the largest and strongest so far this year, said Qiao Lin, a senior CMA engineer.

They are expected to affect the provinces and autonomous regions of Gansu, Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, northern Shaanxi, central-northern Shanxi, western Jilin and western and northern Liaoning.

Among those areas, sand storms will hit parts of middle-western Gansu, Ningxia and Inner Mongolia.

The visibility is between 1 to 10 km in dust storms and below 1 km in sand storms, according to meteorological indices.

China usually experiences this kind of weather between February and May, while March and April see the most frequent and strongest instances.

Traffic safety will be affected due to low visibility and the bad air quality will affect patients with respiratory diseases, Qiao said.