Chinese meteorologists said Wednesday they are drawing up plans to force rain ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics so that showers could not mar the Games.

Wang Yubin, an engineer with the Beijing Meteorological Bureau, told a press conference that historical data from the past 30 years indicate there is a 50 percent chance of rain for the opening ceremony on August 8, 2008 and the closing ceremony a little more than two weeks later.

"We are now drafting the implementation plan for the artificial rain mitigation for the opening and closing ceremonies," said Wang Yubin, an engineer with the Beijing Meteorological Bureau. "We will take necessary measures for the possible rain mitigation."

Technicians with the Beijing Weather Modification Office said last May they had fired seven rocket shells containing 163 cigarette-size sticks of silver iodide over the city's skies, which they claimed forced four-tenths of an inch (one centimeter) of rain.