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No Rain at the Olympic Opening Ceremony; the First Rain Dispersal Operation in Olympic History

On the day of the Beijing Olympics’ opening ceremony, with the help of a meteorology expert from Russia, the Chinese Meteorology department launched 1104 rain dispersal rockets at 21 operation sites in Beijing between 4:23pm to 11:39pm to stop a storm cloud that was coming from the southwest. The Chinese Meteorology experts claimed that it was the largest organized and best executed weather modification operation used in Olympic history and the first ever used in China.

The weather forecast called for a rainy weather forecast for the Olympic opening night with 90 percent humidity. Rain had been cited as the biggest threat to the Olympic opening by the chief director of the ceremony Zhang Yimou days ahead of the opening night. The weather services said that Baoding City of Hebei Province, to the southwest of Beijing received the biggest rainfall of 100 millimeters Friday night, and Beijing’s Fangshan District recorded a rainfall of 25 millimeters.

Source: Xinhua, August 9. 2008
http://www.bj.xinhua.org/bjpd_sdzx/2008-08/09/content_14075111.htm http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-08/09/content_9079637.htm