Thick smog covers northern regions
Print Edition
THE heavily polluted air in China’s northern regions is expected to continue over the next three days until a cold snap sweeps away the thick smog, according to environment officials.
Beijing Meteorological Bureau upgraded its yellow alert for pollution and haze, its second this year, to orange yesterday.
Orange is the second highest alert in China’s four-tier color-coded weather warning system.
Visibility in most parts of the capital was below a kilometer yesterday morning, the bureau said.
Records showed that the density of PM2.5 pollutants reached more than 400 micrograms per cubic meter yesterday afternoon in the city’s downtown areas. The national standard for an acceptable level is 35mg.
PM2.5 refers to airborne particles smaller than 2.5 micrometers in diameter. They are the main cause of urban smog and harmful to human health.
The smog has also affected Beijing’s neighboring Tianjin City and Hebei Province.
The Hebei Meteorological Bureau issued an orange alert on Wednesday and it was still in place yesterday.
Of 13 northern cities, only three are not suffering from severe air pollution. Xingtai, Shijiazhuang and Dingzhou were the hardest hit with their air quality index at 500, 449 and 446 as of yesterday afternoon, all in the “hazardous” band.
Weather forcaster Liao Xiaonong told China News Service that high air humidity brought by thunderstorms and warm winds from the south had sharply increased the pollutants’ density.
Also, The Beijing News reported, the Ministry of Environmental Protection found farmers in north China burning large amounts of straw during the National Day holiday, a major contribution to the problem.
However, the cold front due tomorrow night will begin to disperse the stagnant smog, forecasters said.
The environment ministry said Beijing, Tianjin and cities in Hebei were the hardest hit by air pollution in 2013.
Of the 10 cities with the most serious problems, seven were in Hebei, including the top three — Xingtai, Shijiazhuang and Handan, all industrial cities.
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