Sandstorms hit northwestern China’s Gansu Province and North China’s Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (内蒙古自治区) on the first day of the new century.According to Sun Landong, a meteorologist (气象学者) with the Lanzhou Meteorology observatory, visibility (能见度) was less than 100 metres in Minqin, a Gansu country near Inner Mongolia, because of sand. When visibility drops to less than 1 kilometre, it is called a sandstorm. The sandstorm in Minqin blew up dust in nieghbouring town, such as Baiyin, Wuwei, Jinchang and Lanzhou, the capital city of Gansu Province. Dustladen winds also swept into Beijing.
　　Brought by northwester blowing at more than 20 metres per second, dust first reached the capital’s suburbs at 7：00 a.m., downtown areas 9：00 a.m. The winds, which died down to as low as 8℃ below zero and many flights put off their planned time from the city’s airport.
　　It is quite rare for sandstorms, which are frequent between March and June, to happen in winter, when the earth is frozen. The sandstorms in Gansu and Inner Mongolia do not necessarily mean there will be more of them in the spring than last year, when they were serious, but Beijing is taking it very seriously. It is reported that Beijing will spend 6 billion yuan (US ＄ 725 million) in preventing sandstorms in the capital and has already set up a special team to make sure what causes them.

在新世纪到来的第一天，沙尘暴袭击了中国西北部的甘肃省和中国北部的内蒙古自治区。根据兰州气象站的气象学者孙兰东所提供的数据：由于风沙，靠近内蒙的甘肃省民勤县的能见度还不到100米。当能见度不足1000米时，便可称之为沙尘暴了。民勤县的这场沙尘暴还将沙尘吹往邻近的城市，例如白银市、武威市、金昌市和甘肃省会兰州市。这些充满沙尘的风还吹到了北京。
沙尘在每秒20多米的西北强风带动下，于上午7点首先到达省会郊区；9点到达市中心。逐渐减弱的大风使温度骤降至零下八度，许多航班都推迟了原定从机场的起飞时间。
沙尘暴多发生于每年的三月至陆月，在冬季出现沙尘暴实属罕见，因为冬季地面都结了冰。在甘肃和内蒙的这场沙尘暴并不一定就意味着今年春季的沙尘暴会比去年多，而去年的沙尘暴非常严重。但是，北京对这场沙尘暴却非常重视。有报道说：北京将花费60亿元人民币（7.25亿美元）来预防首都出现沙尘暴，并已成立了一个特别工作组以搞清楚是什么原因引起的沙尘暴。