Weather forecasters today predicted thunder and rain in Beijing on the day of the Olympic opening ceremony and warned that typhoons could disrupt events in other host cities. Organisers have repeatedly said rain is their biggest worry ahead of Friday’s opening ceremony, which will feature more than 10,000 performers and a massive fireworks display. But top officials from the Beijing Meteorological Bureau confirmed that bad weather was certain for the August 8 event, although they held out hope that the skies may clear for the evening ceremony.

“Before and immediately after August 8, we will not see persistent heavy rainfall,” said Wang Jianjie, deputy director of the bureau. “Specifically on the 8th, the weather in Beijing will be cloudy and overcast.” She said that forecasting technology was not accurate enough to predict exactly when rain would actually fall on any particular day or whether it would disrupt the evening opening ceremony.

Meanwhile, officials said that they did not hold out much hope that China’s artificial weather manipulation technology would help to improve the chances of a rain-free opening ceremony.

Zhang Qiang, head of the Beijing artificial weather manipulation bureau, said that no decision had been made on whether it would use cloud-seeding technology in an effort to prevent rain on the opening day. “Our technology is still at an experimental stage,” she said. “And for the moment we can only work with small clouds.”

Beijing has claimed limited success in the past using chemicals to seed clouds to prevent rain. As for typhoons, Wang said that two or three were expected to blow in from the Pacific Ocean during the August 8-24 Games and that they would be tracked and monitored throughout the period. The storms could hit Hong Kong, affecting the staging of the Olympic equestrian events there, and could also disrupt the parts of the Olympic football tournament being staged in coastal Shanghai. Wang also said that the port city of Qingdao in northeastern China, where the Olympic sailing competition is being held, could also be affected.

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