A Beijing weather official said on Sunday that the city may be overcast and cloudy, and possibly hit by shower or thundershower on August 8.

Wang Jianjie, deputy director of Beijing Meteorological Bureau speaks at a press conference at the Main Press Center, Aug. 3. [Xinhua]

But detailed weather conditions for the Olympics opening ceremony night will not be available until Aug. 6, Guo Hu, director of the Beijing Meteorological Observatory, said at a press conference at the Main Press Center.

Continuing heavy rains are unlikely in the days before or immediately after the opening ceremony of the Beijing Games, Wang Jianjie, deputy director of Beijing Meteorological Bureau, said at the same press conference.

"We exclude continuous heavy rains before and on the day of the opening ceremony. However we don't exclude that on the 8th of August there might be periodic rain," Wang elaborated when being asked about the weather of opening ceremony once and again.

The three-and-half-hour opening ceremony is expected to be held at the futuristic Bird's Nest, the National Stadium, on the night of Aug. 8.

"Even if there is a shower during the opening ceremony, the current technology can guarantee that the fireworks effect will not be affected," said Wang Yubin, deputy chief engineer of Beijing Meteorological Bureau, when being asked if technologies such as cloud seeding will be used to control the weather during the opening ceremony.

Another official Zhang Qiang explained the technology of cloud seeding is only in its experimental phase. Its implementation will be decided by specific weather conditions and cloud types.

Concern about typhoons

Wang Jianjie, the Beijing Meteorological Bureau official, announced that two or three typhoons are forecast to land in China's eastern provinces in August according to this year's typhoon prediction.

Qiao Lin with the Beijing Meteorological Bureau said China's typhoon prediction capability has reached advanced standard in the world. "We will release typhoon prediction and pre-warning 36 hours or 24 hours in advance."

Responding to the question whether typhoons will "threat" Olympic events in co-host cities like Qingdao, Shanghai and Hong Kong, Wang Jianjie said a typhoon will not post persistent influence to a city. Its influence may last only one to two days and a rainfall will be intermittent.

"So it will not have a long-term effect but only have an effect for a limited period during the Games, " she said.

Weather helps improve air quality

"The air quality of Beijing is very good in the past two days thanks to anti-pollution endeavors and the weather," said Guo Hu.

He said favorable weather factors, such as gentle wind and rainfall, are conducive to dispelling pollutants.

He predicted that the weather condition from Aug. 8 to 24 will be quite similar to that of the recent two days, as the city is approaching autumn, the best period of the year.

To improve air quality, Beijing has taken a series of measures. In the final month before the Games, the city rested two thirds of government vehicles, and imposed a traffic control on automobiles ending with odd or even numbers on their license plates on alternate days from July 20 to Sept. 20.

Other pre-Games environment measures include closing polluting factories in Beijing and neighboring regions, suspension of most urban construction, and removal of vehicles failing to meet emission standards.

(Xinhua News Agency August 3, 2008)