WATCH: Eerie Timelapse Video Shows Smog Envelop Beijing

When Beijing was issued an orange alert on Friday we were also warned that we would have six days of heavy pollution. We hoped the air wouldn’t get too bad, but anyone who stayed in the capital over the holiday knows that things got pretty ugly. Not only did the orange alert get extended from Sunday until Wednesday, but the air spiked to around the 500 mark in some areas of Beijing over the weekend.

This timelapse video was posted to Twitter by Chas Pope, an engineering consultant in Beijing, on Monday morning. The eerie 10-second video was shot over a 20-minute stretch of time and shows a heavy blanket of smog as it quickly envelopes the city.  

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Beijing is currently under an orange alert for air quality. The alert, which is the second highest in China’s four-tier system, was originally issued from Friday until Sunday but was extended until Wednesday at midnight.

[Video courtesy of Chas Pope]