The meteorological department must make sure of the extreme accuracy of weather forecast during the Beijing Olympics next year, a meteorological expert has said.

 

Li Zechun, an academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering, said the weather forecast during the Games will tell people when and where rain is to happen, while vague words like the rainfall probability are absolutely banned.

 

Li Zechun told to students who visit a lab under the National Meteorological Center on Saturday that the Olympic weather forecast are required to be worked out three days in advance and updated every three hours.

 

The normal report is released every 24 hours, he explained.

 

The academician also said the wet season in the city during which the Olympiad is held will bring many difficulties to the weather department.

 

According to statistics in past years, Beijing would on average see a rainfall in three days in August. One fourth is thunderstorms.

 

The meteorological department should take artificial storm suppression before the storm comes, he said, however, the city never carried out such practice for the lack of water.

 

(CRI May 21, 2007)