Residents in northern China yesterday witnessed another dusty day together with a sharp drop in temperature while residents in southern China suffered from fierce hailstorms, heavy winds and thunderstorms.

The Central Meteorological Observatory forecast that north winds of gale force 4-7 will continue to affect north China and northeast China today and tomorrow.

In south China, east China, southeast China and northeast China rain and snow are expected to hit in the first few days of the week. Meanwhile, Beijing residents soon swapped T-shirts and shorts for thick sweaters and coats yesterday to adapt to the maximum temperature of 12 degrees centigrade, a big difference from a week ago when the temperature reached 28 degrees centigrade.

Most areas in north China, eastern parts of northwest China and central parts of northeast China were all affected by dust, as well as winds of gale force 5-7.

"The low temperature is caused by cold air from Mongolia and is expected to continue until Tuesday," said Cheng Dagang, an expert from the Beijing Meteorological Station.

Meanwhile, the sandstorms in Beijing are brought about by dust from the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, according to Chen.

People in Changchun, capital of Northeast China's Jilin Province, woke up yesterday morning to find the city enveloped in dust.

Yang Zhidong, a weather man with Jilin Meteorological Observatory, said this is the worst dusty weather the province has encountered in years.

A Jilin civil aviation official said the dust has halted all inbound and outbound flights. Road traffic authorities said expressway traffic has been only slightly affected, but said they have cautioned drivers to remain alert.

Doctors advised people to stay at home and warned them to watch for dust-triggered disease.

Fierce hailstorms, accompanied by heavy winds and thunderstorms hit Bazhong City at the weekend in Southwest China's Sichuan Province leaving 762 livestock dead, and more than 5,000 rural houses and a large area of farmland damaged.

Around 50,000 local people were affected by the storms, but no casualties have been reported yet.

The total financial loss was estimated at 23 million yuan (US$2.8 million), local officials said.

(China Daily April 8, 2002)