Cold, dry winds filled the skies with Siberian dust and sand Tuesday in northwest, north and northeast China.

Visibility was cut to less than 500 meters in a few areas, meteorologists said.

"It was the seventh event of its kind so far this year and the strongest one recorded this spring," He Lifu, a weatherman for the Central Meteorological Observation Station, told China Daily.

Transportation, particularly airplane takeoffs and landings as well as traffic on expressways, might be affected during a strong sandstorm, He warned.

Around 3:00 PM Tuesday, drifting and flowing sand was observed in central western portions of Gansu and Inner Mongolia, southern parts of Hebei and western Liaoning.

Forecasts called for flowing or drifting sand to sweep more areas in Gansu, Shaanxi, Shanxi and Hebei provinces as well as Beijing and Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region today, with the cold wind likely to blow eastward, said He.

Strong sandstorms, the highest degree of sand-related weather events, are expected for the central western areas of Gansu and parts of Ningxia provinces today, with wind speeds reaching 13 to 16 meters per second.

Temperatures were forecast to drop 6 to 10 degrees C in parts of north and northeast China, accompanied by gusty winds.

"Such temperature fluctuations are quite normal in spring," said He.

(China Daily March 10, 2004)