Beijing Skies Turn Yellow as Sand, Dust Engulf Chinese Capital

Pedestrians stand on an overpass above car traffic amid a duststorm in Beijing, China, on April 15, 2021. Tingshu Wang/Reuters

BEIJING—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 4:00 p.m. local time (0800 GMT) on Thursday, mainly due to larger particles of sand and dust, municipal authorities said.