According to the Ministry of Environmental Protection, heavy air pollution, including high ground level concentrations of ozone pollution, is likely to hit the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and neighboring areas in the coming days, because of a heat wave baking north China.

Today the high is expected to reach 36 degrees Celsius, or about 97 degrees Fahrenheit. The pollution is expected to ease as the weather cools down.

As summer arrives, ozone pollution levels rise and will remain in high concentrations until September. The Ministry of Environmental Protection warned residents to stay indoors in the afternoon when pollution levels are at their peak.