'Positive' measures used to counter 'bad' weather (photo attached)

(BEIJING, August 7) -- Rain, rain go away, come back again some other day ...

"Besides meticulous weather forecast, we are to take some positive measures to counter possible 'bad' weather during the Beijing Olympics," so say Wang Yubin, deputy chief engineer with the Beijing Meteorological Bureau and Guo Wenli, head of the Beijing Climate Center said in an interview with the official website of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Research showed that the average temperature during the Olympics will be around 25℃ and the highest average temperature will near 30 ℃. Beijing is expected to be rather humid with relative humidity reaching 77%.

Guo emphasized that there would be a 50% chance of rainfall on the day of the Opening Ceremony. But after August 24, the weather will get better with cooler weather and lower precipitation possible.

In order to certify the accuracy of its weather forecast, the Beijing Meteorological Bureau has applied two different calculation methods and set up a reasonably distributed observation network in and around Beijing.

"We have conducted some experiments to disperse cloud and reduce rainfall thus accumulated some successful experience in this regard ... We hope that once needed, we could take out effective measures to curb rainfall," said Wang.

He added that during next year's Olympic Games, the weather forecast for the Olympic venues will be released every three hours and meteorological charts, every half hour. Additional observation networks and equipment will also be set up in Beijing and Qingdao.

Wang said applying artificial measures to manipulate the weather will not be harmful to the environment and the human health as the agents used have no side-effects.

It is reported that Beijing Olympic Weather Service Center will carry out simulated drills during the Good Luck Beijing sports events from August 1 to August 26.