Strong winds swept Beijing Wednesday together with dusty weather while sandstorms hit other regions in north China.

The north wind with a force of 6 to 7 blew from Tuesday night through Wednesday and thick dust could be smelled in the air in the morning though the visibility remained quite high.

The Central Meteorological Station said Tuesday that dusty weather that hit north China from Tuesday to Wednesday would be the strongest of this spring.

Northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region was caught by sandstorms Tuesday afternoon with a strong wind force of eight.

In its capital Yinchuan, people wore masks and cars slowed down and turned on headlights. The visibility dropped to 500 meters at 3:30 p.m. Tuesday.

The local meteorological station said the dry and comparatively hot weather led to the severe sandstorm.

The dusty weather has affected the central and northern part of north China, northeast China, northwest China's Gansu Province and Shaanxi Province's northern part as well as central and western part of Inner Mongolia, the Central Meteorological Station said.

In Gansu, Tuesday's sandstorm was the seventh this spring.

(Xinhua News Agency March 11, 2004)