PHOTOS: First sandstorm of 2015 hits Beijing, sending air quality readings through the roof

Dust and sand from Inner Mongolia's Gobi Desert swept across northern China this weekend, shrouding Beijing in a thick miasma. Air Quality Index numbers in the national capital ascended to dangerously high levels on Saturday, when AQI readings hit 895 - almost three times "hazardous" levels (300).

Beijing Meteorological Bureau issued a "Blue Alarm" warning for severe pollution and visibility was reduced to around two kilometers. The storm hit at 10:20am and by mid-day PM10 data reached over 1000µg/m3, 20 times more than the standard guideline provided by the World Health Organization.

PHOTOS: This is what one year's worth of Beijing pollution looks like

This weekend's was the first sandstorm to choke the city in 2015. Sandstorms have long been a fixture of the Beijing spring, but desertification on a grand scale - as well as an already grave smog problem - has made the phenomenon more dire in recent years.

Mercifully, a cold air front from Siberia soon blew down south to sweep the dust away, and today Beijingers can breath free (relatively speaking).

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[Images via Sina]