Increased sandstorm frequency in North China in 2023: Climate change reflection on the Mongolian plateau

The schematic diagram showing the 24-h backward trajectory of 11 days of sandy and dusty weather at altitude of 1,000 m in Beijing in 2023

There has been a decreasing trend in the average number of days of sandstorms in Beijing over the last 7 decades from ±30 days between 1950 and the 1960s to 3–5 days between 2010 and 2016. The main drivers of this trend include weakening wind speed, increasing vegetation cover, and wetter soils of sandstorm source regions in North China. These changes can be attributed to various factors, including the ecology compensation project, global warming, and internal atmospheric variability. However, sandy and dusty conditions occurred in Beijing over 11 days during the first four months of 2023, exceeding the average between 2018 and 2022 of 4 days and negatively impacting the livelihoods of millions of people.