Beijing sky that had turned dark and bright orange due to sand that filled the capital city of China

Saturday morning residents of Beijing, China shocked by the color of their sky suddenly changed color to orange. This is caused by a strong sandstorm hit China this year. Beijing sky that had turned dark and bright orange due to sand that filled the capital city of China. In Tiananmen Square, residents were forced to close their faces with masks due to respiratory disturb sand them. Beijing Weather Supervisory Service said the current weather conditions is very dangerous to breathe.

“Air quality is very bad now for health,” a warning from Beijing Weather Supervisory Service. Chinan government warned its citizens to close the doors and windows of their houses so as not contaminated by sand storms that hit today. Desert region of China today is widespread, this is due to China’s deforestation, excessive grazing and high levels of drought. The displacement volume of sand is increasingly rising trigger sandstorms that can cover the distance equivalent of the western United States. So reported the Associated Press, Saturday (20/3/2010).

China Academy of Science estimates that if the number of sand storms in the country such as the bamboo curtain has risen six-fold during the last 50 years. Conditions caused dozens of China hit by sand storms in one year. While the sandstorm attack today, some flights at Beijing International Airport experienced delays. But after a few moments later the plane from one of the busiest in the world is in the air again.

To address the increasing threat of sand storms, the Government of China began to plant thousands of hectares of trees to prevent the expansion of deserts in the northern and western China. But experts predict if this will take tens of years to complete.

Winter storm plods through West, (MidwestDust Storm Accidents)

Winter storm plods through West/ Dust Storm Accidents

DENVER  A fast-moving winter storm is promising to bring a white Christmas to parts of the West and Midwest, but not without threatening to cause long delays and tough driving conditions for countless holiday travelers.The storm is expected to dump more than a foot of snow on parts of Colorado and Southern Utah by midday Wednesday, and blow east into the Plains states through Christmas Day. Blizzard warnings were likely on Christmas Eve in Kansas.”Pretty much the entire central and southern Rockies are going to get snow, and then it’s going east and will drop more snow,” Stan Rose, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Pueblo, Colo.With the snowstorm looming, holiday travelers scrambled Tuesday to adjust their plans.

In Denver, Sarah McAnarney and her husband planned to leave town Wednesday to visit family in Ozark, Mo., with their springer spaniel, Olive. But forecasts prompted them to skip a day of skiing in the Rockies and start driving a day early.

McAnarney said she was caught in a blizzard two weeks ago in the Rockies and needed four hours to drive 100 miles from Vail to Denver. She said she didn’t want to repeat the experience.”I was driving through a whiteout,” she said Tuesday at a truck stop east of Topeka, Kan. “You couldn’t see over your headlights.”

On Tuesday, blustery weather was already snarling traffic in Arizona, with blizzard-like conditions shutting down roads and causing a pileup involving 20 vehicles. South of Phoenix, a dust storm set off a series of collisions that killed at least three people.A tropical jet stream pumping in moisture from the storm’s south was likely to cause plenty of snow as the storm heads into the Plains states.South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds declared a state of emergency Tuesday, giving his state more flexibility to prepare.

A winter storm watch was in effect for most of southeast Colorado, the panhandle of Oklahoma and north Texas through Thursday. By Tuesday afternoon, light snow was falling in Salt Lake City. No major airport delays were reported there or in Denver, but holiday travelers across the region were warned to check with their airlines before arriving for flights.In western Nebraska, a Colorado woman was killed Tuesday on Interstate 80 when her SUV apparently hit black ice and slid across a median.

In Nevada, multiple wrecks were reported in and around Reno as snow blanketed the area shortly before the Tuesday evening commute. No serious injuries were reported, the Reno Gazette-Journal newspaper reported.

Meanwhile, many holiday travelers in the region decided to adjust their plans. Craig Rueschhoff and his girlfriend, Brenna Larson, planned to leave Des Moines, Iowa, on Tuesday evening instead of Wednesday night to make the 210-mile drive to Columbus, Neb., to visit his parents.Rueschhoff, 35, said they also planned to visit Larson’s parents in western Iowa on their way back to Des Moines but thought about skipping the annual trip.

“We’ve had both my mom and her mom encourage us not to come if the weather is too bad,” he said. “They wouldn’t feel bad if we didn’t come. We’ve gotten their blessing.”

The winter conditions follow a weekend storm that dropped record snowfall and interrupted holiday shopping and travel on the East Coast. Delays from that storm sparked an unruly crowd that included passengers still on standby Tuesday at the Delta Air Lines terminal at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York. Police were called to help with crowd control.

Rose said holiday revelers in the West and Midwest should worry about the cold as well as the snow. Temperatures across Colorado on Christmas were not expected to get out of the 20s, with single-digits expected in the mountains.“It’s going to be cold to begin with, and then it’s going to get even colder,” Rose said.

Storm blamed for Brazil power cut

A severe storm has been blamed for widespread power cuts in Brazil which lasted more than five hours, the government said.

The strong winds, heavy rain and lightning brought down a power line in Brazil, cutting two other lines and ultimately shutting Itaipu dam.In the worst blackout to hit Brazil in years, up to a fifth of the population was left without power on Tuesday.Neighbouring Paraguay was also briefly left in the dark.Initial suspicion had focused on the Itaipu hydroelectric plant, which supplies 20% of Brazil’s power, but officials there said the facility was working normally.