The Beijing Meteorological Bureau couldn’t have picked a better day to hold its press conference detailing their plans to predict—nay, to control—the weather for the Olympic Games.

Outside, a cloudless, smogless sky. The sun shined. It wasn’t even as cold as late January in the capital can be.

The press conference, of course, was inside, in a well-appointed but stuffy room of the Olympic media center, which kept all such well-controlled elements safely outside. I suppose that was the safe bet, after last year’s interruption: when a sandstorm covered a tree-planting ceremony in fine yellow dust.

Officials with the Bureau promised ongoing and up-to-the-minute reports on weather conditions during the games. They also said a much-hyped rain mitigation system—one that chemically-seeds clouds using aircraft and artillery batteries—will disperse light showers before they reach the city, promising a dry opening ceremony on Aug. 8.

Some concerns:

• August is the rainiest month, on average, in Beijing (source)
• Beijing’s air quality, especially when it hasn’t rained in a while, still sucks
• One of the chemicals used to seed clouds, silver iodide, may not be so green

Here’s my big hang-up: Rain is one of the best cleansers of Beijing’s air. This city would be downright livable, pleasant even, if it just rained every other day, or every night. Almost all the best days I’ve spent here come after a rainstorm.

But if they prevent rainclouds from reaching the city, will that just leave all the smog in the atmosphere?

There are other plans in place to fight air pollution. Factories will shut down. Cars will be kept off the ground. But Beijing’s topography, similar to that of the Los Angeles Basin, is uniquely good at trapping dust and smog around the city.

The best way to wash it all away, in my experience, is to have a little rain.

Update: Photos and links added. Also, the picture above came to me by email, but I don’t know the original source. Can anyone help ID it so I can give proper credit?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 30th, 2008 at 7:33 pm and is filed under News, roadside blogging. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.