Why super sandstorm 2021 in North China?

Large climate anomalies and strong weather disturbance jointly contributed to super sandstorm 2021 in North China that reoccurred after absence for more than 10 years. Severe sandstorms reoccurred in the spring of 2021 after an absence for more than 10 years in North China. The dust source area, located in Mongolia, suffered destructive cooling and warming in early and late winter, which loosened the land. A lack of precipitation, excessive snow melt and strong evaporation resulted in dry soil and exiguous spring vegetation. A super-strong Mongolian cyclone developed on the bare and loose ground, and easily blew and transported large amounts of sand particles into North China. Furthermore, top-ranking anomalies (sea ice shift in the Barents and Kara Sea, and sea surface temperatures in the east Pacific and northwest Atlantic) were found to induce the aforementioned tremendous climate anomalies in the dust source area. Analyses, based on large-ensemble Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6, yield results identical to the reanalysis data. Thus, the climate variabilities at different latitudes and synoptic disturbances jointly facilitated the strongest spring sandstorm over the last decade.

Automated summary

The super sandstorm in North China in 2021, the strongest in over a decade, was caused by a combination of large climate anomalies, strong weather disturbances, and climate variability at different latitudes.