Tag: Xinhua News Agency

Spinning The Weather Chinese Style

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.

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.

Xinhuanet was launched in 1997 as the online news service of Xinhua News Agency. It releases important news about China and the world around the clock without stop by relying on the agency’s worldwide information-gathering network.

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.

Guo Liwen, head of the bureau’s climate center told Xinhua that records in the last 30 years showed that Beijing’s average temperature in August is 24.9 degrees centigrade, relatively genial weather for the athletes.

He noted that there is no need to worry about the hot weather, adding that the data of 29.8 degrees centigrade as average August Beijing temperature cited by some foreign media are incorrect.

“The 29.8 degrees centigrade is the average highest temperature in August,” he said.

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. 29.8&#186C equals 86&#186 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?

China Makes Artificial Rain for Beijing

Chinese weather specialists used chemicals to engineer Beijing’s heaviest rainfall of the year, helping to relieve drought and rinse dust from China’s capital, the official Xinhua News Agency reported Friday. The Los Angeles Times relayed this story from China yesterday.

I’m not an expert in weather modification, but I know a little about it. Cloud seeding has been tried in the past and the results are usually less than desired.

Let me start at the essence – to see a cloud, you need a cloud. So, if you’re thinking of going to the Gobi and planting flowers, forget it.

You also need the proper temperature structure. Cloud seeding promotes the formation of ice crystals which, being too heavy to remain suspended in the cloud, fall to earth, melting on the way down. Voila – it’s rain.

I am worried that someone in China is selling a bill of goods to the government – making this seem more reliable than it really is. The fact that a single episode is squarely credited with record rainfall seems foolhardy at best and certainly non-scientific.

In science, when something happens without proper controls and protocols being in place, it’s called anecdotal evidence. It is interesting to look at, and probably spurs more study, but you can’t draw conclusions from anecdotes.

From the article, it looks like that’s just what they’ve done!

More important than the lack of rain is the terrible condition of Chinese air quality – the reason they needed this rain in the first place.

Judging by video I’ve seen, and first hand reports from friends and relatives who’ve visited, China’s air is not fit for breathing! City vistas are yellow with haze.

I just did a quick check on the weather in Beijing (not their most industrial city) and found a few hours yesterday when the reported weather condition was “smoke!”

We’re not perfect here, but many of the pollutants China is putting into the atmosphere have been brought under control in the states (many – not all, by any means). That means, probably for the cost savings, China has chosen not to use currently available technology.

I’m not a big worrier when it comes to human induced climate modification (aka – global warming), but if you are, what’s being done in Beijing should scare the daylights out of you. Whatever moisture falls from seeding is moisture unavailable for cloudiness (and rain) downstream.

There was once a commercial where the tag line was, “It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature.” Correct.