Beijing: China’s capital was in trouble on Saturday as rare typhoon-like storm swept the northern region, forcing historic sites to close and ruining travel, while bringing late snowfall and hail showers in some areas.
The windows swayed, trees crashed on the sidewalks and cars, shocked by gusts driven by cold vortexes in neighboring Mongolia, which caused the temperature to plummet.
This is the wind that begins on Friday and will continue over the weekend with gusts of up to 150 kph (90 mph), the official Xinhua News Agency News Agency said. They brought late snowfall in Inner Mongolia and hail in southern China.
Beijing issued the second highest wind warning this weekend, the first in a decade, warning 22 million residents to avoid non-essential travel as the wind could violate April records in 1951.
After an earlier warning, some residents said they were very nervous but still managed to walk around.
“It’s not as serious as I thought it was – it’s not to the point where it’s impossible to get out – although it will have some impact on daily life,” said the 30-year-old local resident.
According to state media reports, by 2 p.m. GMT, the wind cut down 703 trees in Beijing, while 693 flights were cancelled at two international airports in Beijing – Beijing Capital and Beijing Daxin.
Wind dominated social media chats, with many expressing concerns about the brave conditions of delivery workers.
“In such weather, we can choose not to order delivery – it’s too difficult for them,” wrote a Weibo user.
The wind forced Sunday’s half marathon to postpone humanoid robots competing with humans to demonstrate China’s technological advancement.
Xinhua News Agency and state broadcaster CCTV said a long period of sandstorm raging on road trips from Inner Mongolia to eight provinces in the Changhe area.
It is expected that sandstorms will affect Shanghai from Saturday afternoon to Sunday morning.
Strong winds of sand and dust brought by Mongolia are routine in spring, but climate change makes weather events even more extreme.
