Gale-force winds that have battered northern China swept into the southern parts of the country over the weekend, triggering widespread disruption and blanketing some regions with historically rare sandstorms.

While the unusually strong winds began easing in parts of the south on Sunday, they were expected to continue wreaking havoc across the north, according to the National Meteorological Center.

Northern regions were engulfed by sandstorms, heavy snow and downpours. On Friday, winds measuring between 17.2 and 20.7 meters per second raged across 10 northern regions, including the Xinjiang Uygur, Inner Mongolia and Ningxia Hui autonomous regions, as well as Shaanxi and Shanxi provinces.