Asia Pacific, China, Climate crisis, Drought, Environment, Extreme heat, Extreme weather, World news
Warm fronts to Y-fronts: Chinese city hit by underwear storm
Chongqing authorities say cloud seeding to break heatwave did not cause winds that sent laundry flying
It was the talk of the town. After the authorities sought to break a long-running heatwave in Chongqing by using cloud-seeding missiles to artificially bring rain, the Chinese megacity was blasted by an unusual weather event – an underwear storm.
Termed “the 9/2 Chongqing underwear crisis”, an unexpected windstorm on Monday brought gusts of up to 76mph (122km/h), scattering people’s laundry from balconies on the city’s high-rises. Douyin, China’s sister app to TikTok, was filled with videos of pants and bras flying through the skies, landing in the street and snagging on trees.