Tuesday, January 8, 2008

Look on the yellow dust, ye mighty, and despair!

Yes, folks, the dreaded yellow dust has made its first appearance of 2008--several months too soon.

For those of you who haven't heard of yellow dust (aka, Asian dust), it is not, contrary to popular belief, the antidote to Korea's ubiquitous self-whitener, but rather a meteorological phenomenon (with a dash of ecological disaster) that hits East Asia every spring. The dust is a result of seasonal winds sweeping from the Gobi Desert (think Mongolia) over parts of China, Korea, and Japan. Back in the day, yellow dust wasn't such a huge problem: the Gobi Desert itself was much smaller, and China's eastern seaboard was not yet, though it may have aspired to be, a festering stinkpot of industrial pollutants. Thankfully, by the time the dust reaches Seoul, most of the worst pollutants have shaken out (take that, Beijing!). Still, a fine layer of grit has never been and will never be a welcome addition to my lungs.

The good news is that the dust isn't too bad yet: at its worst, I'm told, it's like a sandstorm, but lately we haven't seen anything more than fog tinged with mustardy gray.

On another note, the last 36 hours have been bone-chillingly cold and damp. On the bright side, though, our students have been coming to class on time, as nothing aids student punctuality better than clammy, unheated halls.

PS: I promise a photo of the dust if it gets really bad.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Interesting isn't it, how nobody in Korea measures or documents the dust except when it's in full season, and then it's mentioned as if it were as natural as the fall rain. My lungs tell me today was not a good one for particulate and it was bright clear sunny day except for the layer of pollution that hung off on the eastern horizon, and I live on the eastern seaboard. If you ever find a good link that monitors the dust, please send it to me. I've heard the American Military monitors it, but haven't ever been able to open their supposed link to that info. Thanks. Sincerely, your co-groaner over dust, Yangyang Mike pestolover@yahoo.com