The Korean government sends text messages to all mobile phones every once in a while. This way of informing the nation is new to me and proves to be rather effective. Sometimes it’s a simple request, asking to clean your porch from snow, but today I received a warning. “Tomorrow the yellow dust from China will reach Korea”. I wondered, what is yellow dust?
It turns out that yellow dust is a seasonal phenomenon related to drought. Dust clouds origionating from Mongolia and northern China and Kazakhstan that get cought by the wind and get carried as far as Korea and Japan. It’s increasing every year possible because of the Aral Sea of Kazakhstan that dryed up due to a failed Soviet agricultural scheme.
That finally answered my question what that substance in the sky was. Smog? Fog? No, yellow dust from China. Thank you Korean government for this enlightment. I will be on the threatmill instead this week. Kuche Kuche.
Pictures
EDIT: I took some pictures from my office. Check the difference for yourself:
Yellow dust: (I thought it was smog from exhaust or fog before I got the text message)
Normal:
