Beijing skies turn yellow as sand, dust engulf Chinese capital

File picture of a woman caught in a similar sandstorm along a street in Beijing, on March 15, 2021. - AP

BEIJING (Reuters): The skies above Beijing turned yellow and air pollution soared to severe levels as a giant cloud of sand and dust particles rolled into the city, propelled by strong winds from the north of China.

Beijing's air quality index rose to 324 as of 4pm local time (0800 GMT) on Thursday (April 15), mainly due to larger particles of sand and dust, according to municipal authorities.