Meteorologists on lookout for clouds

Weather experts around the Beijing region are combining their resources to provide accurate weather forecasts for Thursday's victory parade.

Weather forecasting is one of the critical support services for the grand military parade because rainfall, haze or low clouds could affect flight performances and other aspects of the event.

Thunderstorms put ground facilities at risk, said Yao Xuexiang, head of the Beijing Meteorological Station, which is part of the cooperative weather team.

Heavy rains had doused the region starting on Sunday, but the storms cleared by Wednesday. Beijing will continue to see blue skies, with some clouds on Thursday, with a high temperature of 30 C and an overnight low of 18 C.

Good visibility is expected for the parade, said Zhang Zuqiang, spokesman for the China Metrological Administration, on Wednesday.

Since Aug 21, the meteorological authorities at both national and local levels, including Beijing, Hebei and other nearby provinces, have conducted joint evaluations of weather conditions and will update the information on the parade day, Yao said.

Some 174 State-level large weather observation stations in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei have increased the frequency of observations to provide the latest information on clouds, visibility and other weather conditions.

The increased information has resulted in more detailed forecasts, with winds and cloud formation and movement reported hourly to the leading parade authorities.

"We have continued to use the technologies and models that have proved effective with other major events, like the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings in November," Yao said.

Zhang said there have been no artificial interventions to affect the weather in recent days and that the windy and sunny weather appeared under a ridge of high pressure since Wednesday－an act of nature that is expected to continue for several days.

"But we also have different emergency plans to cope with sudden rainfall, heat, gales or other bad weather that could affect the parade," Zhang said, adding that it's not easy to forecast weather accurately now because the seasons are in transition from summer to autumn, and conditions are unstable.