Sand Storm Brings Beijing Traffic To Grinding Halt

by Bertel Schmitt

Published: March 20th, 2010

sand storm brings beijing traffic to grinding halt

This morning, Beijing woke up in a massive yellow cloud. Motorists found their cars covered by thick layers of yellow grit. Air filters were quickly overwhelmed. What happened? A huge sand storm had transported tons of sand from the Gobi desert and dumped it on China’s capital. According to China Daily, the “Beijing weather bureau sent an alarm Friday night, warning a sandstorm was ‘on its way’. Yet many residents were utterly unprepared.”

Sand storms are a common occurrence in Beijing, and have given rise to a daily car wash index. Today’s storm has been recorded as the strongest of the year.

The sand storm delayed flights at the airport and triggered warnings as far as Seoul, Korea, and Tokyo, Japan.

According to ABC News, “the grit can travel as far as the western United States.”

There you go: Chinese imports that won’t affect the balance of payment.

#Beijing #BertelSchmitt #China #SandStorm

Bertel Schmitt

Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.

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2 of 19 comments

Dhathewa on Mar 21, 2010

Bertel, So, how do you write, "Wash Me," in Chinese? :)

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Srogers on Mar 22, 2010

I was under the impression that the Gobi Desert existed prior to the methodologies of the "Chicom warlords". Either I'm very mistaken on this point, or they don't teach enough geography at bigot school.

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