After stopping for water at Changluishui, QJ 2647 and QJ 2833 resumed their climb towards Gantang with a long train of oil tanks on the morning of 13 January 1994. By then a westerly wind had got up, blowing the exhausts sideways. At least it would prevent the smog from the Yellow River Valley drifting up into the desert and spoiling the visibility, unless it got too strong and turned into a dust storm.