Beijing will suffer between eight to 11 days of sand weather in the upcoming spring, said chief of the city's meteorological station on Thursday.

The estimation was close to the average level of 9.7 days in recent years, but far exceeding the three-day record last year, said Guo Hu, head of Beijing Municipal Meteorological Station.

Guo attributed sand and dust weather to higher temperature and less rainfall in the sand source area around Beijing and more frequent activities of cold airs in spring this year.

He pointed out that Beijing experienced a warmer climate last year and suffered from nine consecutive years of less precipitation.

In 2007 in particular, Beijing registered a record average temperature of 14 degrees Celsius since 1951 and ten days with temperatures higher than 35 degrees Celsius -- more than the average 5.7 days in recent years.

The average precipitation last year was 517.9 millimeter, 11 percent less than the average level in recent years, he said.

(Xinhua News Agency January 4, 2008)