Beijing air quality plummets amid dust storm

Skyscrapers disappeared into the haze and air quality plummeted as China’s capital was enveloped in a dust storm and heavy pollution on Friday. Concentrations of the tiny PM2.5 particles that can reach deep into the lungs and bloodstream reached well into the dangerous range on monitoring sites.

Beijing was formerly notorious for its terrible air quality, but conditions have much improved in recent years as authorities took heavily polluting vehicles off the roads and moved coal-fired power plants and heavy industry to the surrounding provinces.Anti-desertification efforts have helped reduce both the frequency and intensity of the storms that had often turned the surrounding air a cataclysmic yellowish-red.