2/24: Beijing dust storm

Beijing was basically overcome by a yellow dust storm this week, which I understand is a consequence of poor management of the land - deforestation and industrial usage - plus drought. But this dust also contains remnants of industrial complexes, say the Koreans who were hit by it a few days later.

And in a few days from now, some of that dust is expected to hit the western shores of the US.

Secondhand smoke, my ass...

February 24??

Blarg. I'm gonna edit that.

I came her last night to test out a new box and caught up on the Cellar at the same time. I saw that, and I was about to click reply to say "Tony, you dork." But then I saw blase's post, and I try not to do "yeah!" or "me too!" posts too often, so I just kept my mouf shut.

Now, about the pic - how much dust can you have? I'm guessing that this wasn't taken in the epicenter of the dust storm or anything - more that it was pretty uniform, at least for a certain radius. That's a <b>lot</b> of dust! How far can it travel before its density is so low that it's not really a problem?

Beijing has had this problem for ages, it isn't just a recent one. My father lived there as a child when my grandfather was Postal Commissioner (1921-1926). The dust storms are more common in the winter when dry dusty winds whip down from as far as the Gobi Desert. In my father's memoirs he writes how they had huge dust strorms each winter and had to keep the windows shut with rags packed around the cracks to keep the fine yellow dust from getting on everything. Another problem is that to this day, many heating systems still use anthrocite coal which adds to the polution.