[New Tang Dynasty News, Beijing time, April 14, 2023]Recently, from north to south in mainland China, many provinces and cities have experienced the “baptism” of sandstorms. Just when ordinary people were forced to “eat soil and swallow sand” and had no choice but to do so, so-called “experts” from the Central Meteorological Observatory claimed that dusty weather was beneficial to the ecosystem and that there was no need to cure it. After this remark came out, it was immediately scolded by netizens.
From April 9th, a large-scale sandstorm began to rage in mainland China. The billowing dust started from Inner Mongolia, marched all the way from north to south, and invaded 18 provinces. Wherever it went, the dust covered the sky and covered the city and countryside, making it suffocating. This is the eighth time that large-scale sandstorms have occurred in China this year.
In previous years, dust storms rarely reached Jiangsu and Shanghai, but this year’s dust storms are fierce, not only wide in scope but also long in duration. After being hit by sandstorms four times within a month, the term “Beijing sandstorm” was on the Weibo hot search list on April 10. A netizen posted, “Every breath smells like the Sahara Desert. I was shocked by the size of the sand.”
Amid public lamentations and doubts, the China Meteorological Administration held a meteorological “briefing session” online on the morning of April 11 with the theme of “dust”. At the meeting held within the meteorological system, Gui Hailin, chief forecaster of the Central Meteorological Observatory, made an astonishing statement.
Gui Hailin claimed that sand and dust are one of various “weather” phenomena, and besides bringing some adverse effects, they also have some “benefits” to the global ecosystem, and there is no need to cure them.
He claimed that for some climatic regions with little precipitation, China’s current countermeasures for desertification prevention and control are “sands are suitable for sand”, mainly to prevent the expansion of sandy land, “in places that are not conducive to vegetation growth, coupled with In this kind of windy cyclone weather system, dust is an inevitable weather phenomenon, so it is not a weather that needs to be cured.”
After the remark spread on the Internet, it triggered a public opinion backlash. Many netizens expressed shock at Gui Hailin’s statement and raised strong doubts.
Netizens commented on the relevant news and asked: “What’s the benefit? Let me know.” “I have never taught the benefits of sandstorms after graduation!” Is it God who responded to the wailing of the tree planter?”
Some netizens choked, “The sandstorm didn’t stop their mouths!” “If the sandstorm is beneficial, ask the experts to go outside and stay longer to fully enjoy these benefits.”
Another netizen sarcastically said: “Isn’t the advantage of the sandstorm that foreign satellites can’t see clearly?”
The latest development of this sandstorm is that it swept all the way from north to south, and it has reached a vast area in the south of the Yangtze River a few days ago, causing the air pollution index in Jiangsu and Shanghai to explode. Then, a gust of dust turned back, and suddenly turned northward, allowing the capital Beijing to “enjoy” the taste of “twice-cooked sand” again.
At 6:00 a.m. local time on April 13th, the Central Meteorological Observatory issued a blue sandstorm warning saying: Affected by cold air and strong winds and transmission, it is expected that from 8:00 on the 13th to 8:00 on the 14th, eastern Xinjiang and the southern Xinjiang Basin, central and western Inner Mongolia, Parts of 13 provinces, municipalities, including Beijing and Shanghai, have blowing sand or floating dust.
Sighs and sighs are everywhere on the Internet social platforms. Netizens have posted posts asking each other: What is “twice-cooked sand”? Why can’t the “Three North” shelterbelts planted in the early years stop the raging sand and dust? How long will this deadly dust blow?
(Comprehensive report by reporter Liming/Responsible editor: Lin Qing)