beijing woke on sunday morning shrouded
in thick dust
carrying extremely high levels of
hazardous particles
as a second sandstorm in two weeks hit
the city
due to high winds from drought hit
mongolia and
northwestern china visibility in the
city was reduced and pedestrians were
forced
to cover their eyes as gusts of dust
swept through the streets
the tarmac at beijing international
airport was a blur
as the city's official air quality index
reached a maximum
level of 500 sunday morning with
floating particles known as pm10
surpassing 2000 micrograms per cubic
metre
in some districts readings of smaller pm
2.5 particles were above 300 micrograms
per cubic meter
far higher than china's standard of 35
micrograms
pm 2.5 particles are especially harmful
because they are very tiny
and can enter the bloodstream while pm10
is a larger particle that can enter the
lungs
the china meteorological administration
issued a yellow alert on friday
and said the city might face more
sandstorms in april
due to the unfavorable weather this year