China’s terrible smog problem is back.  The schools, roads, and airport are all shutdown for a second day in a row in the far northeastern industrial city of Harbin, and conditions will likely remain that bad for another day.

Visibility is at around 50 meters at best, because the density of PM 2.5 – airborne particles measuring less than 2.5 microns in diameter – exceeded 500 micrograms per cubic meter.  Some public buses also stopped running due to the smog in Harbin. Several car accidents were reported due to poor visibility.  Many citizens had to walk or take other vehicles to work and were late.

Today marked the beginning of the winter heating season in the urban area of some 10 million people, which gets most of its weather directly influenced from the cold reaches of neighboring Siberia.

Even before those furnaces were switched on, northern China’s vast pollution problems were already getting worse.  Some are wondering of Beijing chronic air pollution forced Grammy Award-winning singer Patti Austin to cancel her gig in the Chinese capital because of an asthma attack.