Braced for the dust and gusts

During a recent instant messaging session with my mother, who lives in central California, she complained: "Yesterday, it was really windy. I don't like it at all, it makes me really nervous." To that, I replied: "Then you wouldn't like living in Beijing." Well, for much of the year, at least.

Winter marks the start of the windy season here, which stretches into the first half of April. It seems whenever the mercury plunges, the wind kicks up as well, such as during last year's January storm when unusually heavy snow was accompanied by gale force gusts that drove the wind chill down to -16 C.

On such days, I can wear a thick wool sweater under my parka and still feel the wind cutting through like an icy knife. I especially dread walking around the Zhongyu Plaza in the morning on my way to the Tuanjiehu subway station to get to work. Like all other high-rises, it funnels the wind, greatly amplifying the blast of freezing winter air.