Massive sandstorm engulfs parts of Qinghai, plunging towns into darkness, China
Image credit: SCMP
A massive sandstorm engulfed parts of northwest China’s Qinghai Province on July 20, 2022, disrupting traffic and plugging towns into darkness.
The worst hit was Haixi Mongol and Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture where the storm lasted nearly 4 hours.
At the storm’s peak, the visibility dropped below 200 m (650 feet).
The video below shows the storm rising ominously on the horizon before it moved into populated areas, blotting out the sunlight as winds recorded at 53km/h (33mph) whipped up clouds of sand.
Teo Blašković founded The Watchers in 2011 and edited it until 2026, covering seismic and volcanic activity, extreme weather, space weather and near-Earth objects. Articles on this page are his archive.
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