China conducts drills to dispel rain for Olympics

Chinanews, Beijing, July 6 – In August, the Beijing Olympics Weather Service Center will carry out practical drills to see whether they can handle bad weather conditions during the Olympic Games. This is the second time for the weather department to conduct similar drills. As one part of the drill, workers will experiment on dispelling the rain during rainy days, a person close to the issue said, the Beijing Evening News reported.   The Olympic Games will be held in Beijing from August 8 to 24, 2008. The weather information shows that during thte past 20 years, Beijing normally had 11.8 raining days in August on average. During the time when the Olympic Games are held, it is very likely for Beijing to encounter rainy weather. How to better forecast the thunderstorm weather has thus become a tough task.   After conducting a lot of experiments, the Beijing Weather Controlling Center recently proposed a scheme aimed to handle the rainy weather, if there is any, during the days when the Olympic opening and closing ceremonies are held.   According to the scheme, workers will put all areas near the Olympic stadiums or gyms under their monitoring. If there are clouds that are likely to bring rain, workers will dispel these clouds by applying artificial means. Such rain dispelling scheme will also be applied in some areas outside the Olympic stadiums or gyms if there are possible rains in these areas. The scheme has recently been approved by the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission.   When the Olympic Games are held, the weather department is required to update their information once every three hours on the weather conditions near every Olympic stadium or gym. The information includes temperature, atmospheric pressure, humidity, and wind scale. During the practical drills, the weather department will strictly follow these requirements. At appropriate times, they might conduct the experiment of dispelling the rain.   By using air planes and rockets, it is possible for human beings to change the precipitation condition in a certain area, and thus reduce or prevent the rains in these areas. The method is both theoretically and technologically feasible, some experts say.