"Yellow Dust in China Feels Like Sand in the Mouth" Has the Worst Passed?

Yoo Hee-dong, Head of Korea Meteorological Administration, CBS Radio Interview
"Very Bad Condition, but Improved Compared to the 12th"

"Generally, when the PM10 concentration reaches around 2000 (㎍) without wearing a mask, people say it feels like sand is being chewed in the mouth. It was about that level."

On the 13th, Yoo Hee-dong, the head of the Korea Meteorological Administration, conveyed this in an interview with CBS Radio's Kim Hyun-jung News Show regarding the yellow dust situation in China. Yoo said, "The yellow dust originated on Monday the 10th. It started from the Gobi Desert and the Inner Mongolia Plateau. To give you numbers, on the 10th, the concentration in that area was between 2000 and 6000, and it improved somewhat from the 11th, but on the 11th it was still around 2000."

Yoo explained, "The initial origin points were the Gobi Desert and Inner Mongolia, where the densest yellow dust appeared. Beijing is located slightly south of those areas, so the situation there was better, but according to our measurements, it was still around 1200 to 2000, which is quite severe."

On the 12th, when a fine dust warning was issued across Seoul, the city center viewed from Namsan in Seoul was shrouded in fine dust accompanied by yellow dust. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

Yoo stated, "In any case, the condition of the origin area of the yellow dust is the most important factor affecting our country," adding, "The main origin areas of yellow dust, the Gobi Desert and Neimenggu (Inner Mongolia) Plateau, had little snowfall. Therefore, the ground conditions were very dry and parched."

He continued, "Temperatures were also high. Because of this, the probability of yellow dust originating this year was higher than in other years, and once it originated, the amount was likely to be very large."

However, he noted that the yellow dust situation is improving. Yoo said, "This morning's air quality, in numbers, is much better than yesterday. The PM10 concentration in Seoul, which is the standard for measuring yellow dust, was 226㎍ per cubic centimeter as of 7 a.m."

On the 12th, when a fine dust warning was issued across Seoul, the city center viewed from Namsan in Seoul was shrouded in fine dust accompanied by yellow dust. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

Yoo added, "At the worst and most severe time, about a day ago on the 12th at 1 a.m., it was 459. So 220 is much lower, and the situation is continuously improving. Of course, it is still very bad, but compared to the forecast from the day before yesterday, it is getting somewhat better as the morning progresses."

Yoo explained, "This is the highest concentration of yellow dust this year. The worst period was from late night the day before yesterday through yesterday. Normally, the usual good air quality corresponds to a concentration between 31 and 80. So the worst places were at least 10 times worse, and other areas were three to four times worse than that."

Yoo predicted that the yellow dust situation would gradually improve. He said, "It will get a bit better today, and although the yellow dust is very dense and will last until tomorrow, tomorrow will be much better than today."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.