Spring, yellow dust

Spring has brought beautiful blossoms and bright green foliage, but it also brought what is know as hwang sa--the yellow dust that blows over from China. We've been told that this year has been the worst in a long time. On several days, we were told not to take the kids to the playground as the parents didn't want them outside. During the worst of it, I got a sore throat and couldn't talk very well. The middle picuture is sunset on a normal day. The bottom picture is sunset on a yellow dust day--it was an otherwise cloudless day.