February 24, 2008 Archives

A few weeks ago, I created a page on this website that aggregates news stories about meteorology. Truthfully, I wanted to play with an application, and meteorology was just a subject I plucked to use. I didn't expect a useful page.

Wrong. I've been reading it pretty regularly and it's actually very cool. Surprise on me.

I just took a look and found a story from the Xinhua News Agency.

Chances slim for Beijing Olympics to stand extreme weather was the headline. I began to read. The tone is defensive. People are saying Chinese weather might not be great for Olympic athletes. The Chinese don't want to hear that.

Yeah - right. How awful to actually use the more meaningful numbers!

Hello. The athletes aren't worried about averages. They're worried about what it's going to be like in the heat of the day. 29.8ºC equals 86º Fahrenheit. Not the worst, but still a bit warm for strenuous outdoor activity.

I went to Weather Underground's incredibly useful trip planner to see what the real story is.

• There is a 22% chance of a Hot Day (temperature over 90°F / 32°C). (37 days out of 170 in historical record) Most consecutive days found in historic record: 5
• There is a 33% chance of a Cloudy Day.
  (48 days out of 147 in historical record)
  Most consecutive days found in historic record: 4
• There is a 72% chance of a Sweltering Day (dew point over 70°F / 21°C).
  (123 days out of 170 in historical record)
  Most consecutive days found in historic record: 15

So, when the deputy chief engineer of the Beijing Meteorological Bureau says, "Even if the rare extreme weather hits Beijing in August, people will not feel muggy. High humidity will not accompany the hot weather in August because their climax periods are different, " I'd hide the silverware and other valuables.

Technically speaking, are they smoking crack over there?