Views From Space Show Deadly Dust Storm Smothering a Vast Area of Asia

Satellite imagery reveals a sprawling cyclonic storm system spreading the dust across a half million square miles.

ImaGeo iconImaGeo
By Tom Yulsman
Mar 17, 2021 11:45 PMMar 17, 2021 11:43 PM
Deadly Dust Storm in Asia
The worst sandstorm in a decade blanketed more than a half million square miles of China on March 15, 2021, as seen in this annotated image acquired by the Suomi NPP satellite. (Credit: NASA Worldview)

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China's worst dust storm in a decade looked bad enough from the ground in Beijing, where earlier this week it turned the sky a ghastly shade of orange and triggered an air quality crisis.

But only from the perspective of space is it possible to fully appreciate the enormous scale of the sprawling blanket of dust.

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