The sandstorm and sand-drifting weather, which swept across most parts of Ningxia today, has caused the visibility to decrease to only 100 meters. Wuzhong city even reported encountering a strong gale.

Meteorologists said the sandstorm in Ningxia will subside by Monday morning, causing the average temperature to drop over 10 degrees Celsius. Moderate or even heavy snowfalls are also expected in the southern mountain areas after the windstorm dies down tomorrow.

Jinchang city in Gansu reported zero visibility today. Six flights in Gansu were either canceled or forced to land in nearby airports due to the poor weather conditions.

The sandstorm and sand-drifting weather was caused by the movement of strong cold air from Siberia or northwest China, according to meteorological analysts.

More Sandstorms Expected

Most areas in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and northwest China's Gansu Province saw violent sandstorms over the weekend, and weather forecast suggests that sandstorms may occur again in those regions this week.

Visibility in more than 95 percent of Inner Mongolia's cities and some parts of northeast China's Jilin and Heilongjiang provinces fell below 50 meters, and meteorological experts said they were the most serious sandstorms this spring, China Daily reports Monday.

Wind speeds were reportedly between 17 and 30 meters per second, and the skies were darkened with the blowing sand. With a new cold front moving closer to the region, local meteorological stations are predicting that sandstorms may occur in the region again.

The storms have affected the whole of north China, including the capital Beijing.

Gansu Province was also swept by a sandstorm over the weekend, and visibility in cities like Wuwei, Jiuquan and Jinzhou fell to less than 100 meters.

The entry of a cold air mass from the north was the main cause of the sandstorm in Gansu, said local weather experts. Gansu saw little rain or snowfall last winter, and the strong air flow swept up the dry surface soil.

The China Central Meteorological Observatory broadcast sandstorm warnings last Thursday, and no casualties were reported in the affected areas.

The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and Gansu Province have long been considered the sources of China's sandstorms. Those regions have had an average of 15 sandstorms per year for the past 50 years.

"The environment in those regions is extremely bad, and the deserts are moving closer to the Yellow River each year," Yang Gensheng, a researcher with the China Academy of Sciences told the newspaper.

(People’s Daily 04/09/2001)