Sand and Dust Weather Information - Sand and Dust Observation
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A sandstorm or duststorm is a meteorological phenomenon usually caused by strong and turbulent winds
blowing over loose soil or sand and sweeping up large quantities of sand or dust particles from the
ground, clouding the air and reducing the visibility drastically. In general, sandstorm/duststorm
can be defined as an ensemble of particles of sand and dust energetically lifted to great heights
by a strong and turbulent wind bringing visibility down to less than 1,000 metres. If the visibility
is observed to be 1,000 metres or greater it would be defined as sand or dust. |
| There are several tools for monitoring sand and dust weather, including (a) the latest reports on sand and dust weather, (b) satellite pictures enhanced to show delineated areas of sand and dust and (c) forecast trajectories of air. |
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 - Sandstorm/Duststorm
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 - Sand/Dust
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The Hong Kong Observatory regularly receives weather reports from weather centres
in the neighbouring areas, including mainland China, Korea, Japan and Taiwan, China.
The above map provides a simplified depiction of the sand and dust related weather over East Asia
based on the weather reports. Latest observations at 8 a.m. or 8 p.m. will be shown. At each
point of observation, if sand or dust weather is reported,
a symbol ( for sand/dust and for sandstorm/duststorm) will be plotted at the observation point.
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