China Makes Plans for Olympic Weather
Officials in China are seeking hourly bulletins in three languages from meteorologists within China and other countries for every event during the upcoming August Olympics in Beijing.
Zheng Guoguant, China’s top meteorological official, said more than 70 of the country’s best weather forecasters would be in the city to work during the event, adding that weather would be the most challenging factor in the country’s preparations for the Olympic Games.
"The whole nation’s strength will be mustered," he told Reuters during the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, a parliamentary advisory body currently meeting in the capital.
Experts in meteorology from previous Olympic host countries, such as the United States and Australia, would also be in Beijing in August to share their expertise and technology, Zheng added.
"There will be forecasters at every venue to issue detailed weather services in Chinese, English and French, to be updated every hour," said Zheng, who holds a PhD from the University of Toronto.
"The pressure is very high," he said, according to a Xinhua news agency report.
He added that history was on the country’s side for a dry opening ceremony on August 8th, since Beijing’s smoldering summer heat and humidity should have relented by then. He explained the odds of Beijing receiving over 0.2 inches of rain on that day were only 10 percent, according statistics for the pasts 50 years.
"There is a 47 percent chance of rain, but it may be extremely light and what we care about is (the weather) between 8 and 12 in the evening," Zheng said, referring to hours the opening ceremony will be held.
Since the ceremony will be held in the city’s roofless Bird’s Nest stadium, the Beijing Meteorological Bureau has been tasked with developing a plan to prevent rain from spoiling what promises to be an extravagant kick-off to the Games.
China has long used weather manipulation to increase rainfall during droughts, firing seeding agents into clouds using anti-aircraft guns. However, Zheng said the country is not likely to be able to manipulate conditions to eliminate large weather systems that cause rain. Â
"We are still at the mercy of the heavens. It is impossible to control or reform nature. We can only adapt to and try to exert some limited influence on it. That is the scientific attitude," he said.
—
On the Net: