The Olympic closing ceremonies were a symbolic gesture of good faith between the Chinese people and everyone who woke up really early and stayed up really late to watch competitions. And it was an event worthy enough to merit rockets blasts into clouds. Because the last thing China ever wants the world to think is that the country will allow rain clouds and thunderclaps to ruin it’s pachanga (fiest, party, shindig, etc).

Meteorologists dispatched eight planes to release rain dispersal chemicals and fired 241 rockets into incoming clouds to ensure a dry Beijing Olympics closing ceremony, state media said Monday. “We decided to use planes to cover a larger area, along with firing rain dispersal rockets from the ground,” said Zhang Qiang, an official at the Beijing Weather Modification Office, according to Xinhua.

China has long dabbled in rain dispersal and rain-making technology, using a vast array of chemicals to either induce or prevent rainfall. Scientists have viewed the technology as promising, but acknowledge that no method has been developed to objectively prove that such techniques work.

Beijing’s acid rain must not be a fierce enough contaminate that chemicals need to be shot into the atmosphere. Good thing smog isn’t an issue anymore in the city. Now, back to your human rights rep…

China used planes, rockets to prevent wet end of Games [The Daily Spain]
Image [Daylife]