STORY: China’s capital hunkered down on Saturday as rare typhoon-like gales swept northern regions.
The winds in and around Beijing forced the closure of historic sites and cancelled flights…
While bringing late snowfalls to the autonomous region of Inner Mongolia and hailstone showers to southern China.
Windows shook and trees crashed onto footpaths and cars, rocked by gusts of wind driven by a cold vortex from neighboring Mongolia that sent temperatures plunging.
The winds started on Friday and are set to continue over the weekend, packing gusts of up to 90 mph.
Beijing issued its second-highest gale, warning 22 million residents to avoid non-essential travel as winds could potentially break April records dating from 1951.
Sandstorms raged over a stretch from Inner Mongolia to the Yangtze River region, and crippled road travel in eight provinces, state broadcaster CCTV said.
Sandstorms were expected to work their way south to impact Shanghai from Saturday afternoon through to Sunday.
Strong winds bringing sand and dust from Mongolia are routine in spring, but climate change has made weather events more extreme.