Nothing but grey skies: Beijing set to see its first smog of the winter
- Air quality set to move into ‘heavily polluted’ territory after heating systems turned back on China’s capital
Thick smog is set to blanket Beijing and the surrounding north China region next week, with air quality readings expected to move into “heavy polluted” territory, according to official forecasts.
A moderate haze that arrived in the Chinese capital on Sunday is expected to thicken due to a lack of wind, with the worst days likely to be Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, the National Meteorological Centre said.
Levels of PM2.5 pollution – the fine particulates with a diameter of 2.5 microns or less that pose the greatest danger to health – are set to rise above 200 micrograms per cubic meter, or “heavily polluted”, it said.
The forecast smog will be the first for northern China this winter and comes after public heating systems were switched on last week.
The news of its arrival is likely to raise concerns that the government, which has been trying to reduce the region’s dependence on coal-fired heating, might have put the battle against pollution on the back burner while it tackles a trade war with the United States.
Besides Beijing, the cities of Shijiazhuang, Baoding, Tangshan and Langfang in Hebei province will be the worst affected, the observatory said.