A couple weeks ago
I had posted about the emergency alert message we in the Seoul area received, warning us of a particularly bad bout of yellow dust (황사). And boy was it bad. The period between February 22-23, 2015 was
the worst for yellow dust in five years. I was out and about during that time, and if I'm being honest, it didn't seem all that bad to me. Just another of the occasional hazy yellowdust days. But the numbers sure tell a different story.
Here are just a few interesting images I had saved, that show a little bit, with facts and figures, of just how bad it really was. Take a look. All of these are screenshots taken either Feb. 22 or Feb 23, 2015.
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| My Google Now air quality card, on Feb. 21, 2015 |
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| My Google Now air quality card, on Feb 22, 2015 |
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| Yellowdust Twitter bot's tweet |
A nice, simple introduction to the yellow dust phenomenon can be found
here at the KMA's website, including this interesting account of yellow dust in ancient Korea:
The first record of the dust phenomenon in Korea is
found in the reign of Silla Dynasty's King Ahdalla (174 A.D.). It was
called "Woo-To". At that time, the people believed that the God in the
heaven became so angry that they lashed down dirt instead of rain or
snow. This is why, whenever the King or his subjects saw a dust
phenomenon, they would be frightened.
In the reign of Baekje Dynasty's King Kungusu in 379
A.D., there was the following record in April: "Dust fell all day long."
There was a record that the sky of the Baekje's capital was darkened
like night by dustfall in march in the reign of King Mu (606 A.D.).
Although these dust phenomena mainly occur during the
springtime, there were some records of them occurred in winter as well.
During the reign of Goguryeo Dynasty's King Bojang in 644 A.D., it was
recorded that there was a red snow that fell from the sky in October. We
can guess that Asian Dust was mixed with snow at that time.
The definition of Asian Dust event was introduced in
the 「Goryeosa」 as follow: "There was dirt on clothes without getting wet
by rain." It was called "Mae () or To-Woo".
In the Joseon Dynasty(1392~1910 A.D.), there was the
following record in March 22, 1549: "Dust fell in Seoul. At Jeonju and
Namwon in the Jeolla province, located in the southwestern part of
Korea, there was a fog that looked like smoke creeping into every corner
in all directions. The tiles on the house roofs, grass on the fields
and leaves on the trees were entirely covered by yellow-brown and white
dusts. When the dust was swept, it wiped away like dirt, and when it was
shaken, it dispersed, too. This weather condition lasted until March
25, 1549." This record clearly depicts the characteristics of a dust
phenomenon in Korea.
And if you're still here, the
Wikipedia article on Asian Dust, and a
Google image search of what it looks like.
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