The weather forecast for Oct 1 brings slim hopes for a sunny parade on National Day festivities with possible drizzle and mist, but that will not stop the Beijing Meteorological Bureau.

"If any unexpected situation appears, we are prepared to manipulate the weather as best as we can," said bureau head Guo Hu in a press release Tuesday.

The air force has prepared 18 converted transport planes and 48 fog-clearing vehicles with more than 260 soldiers to attend to weather-control measures, Xinhua reported last week.

Guo said that tonight there will be drizzle, which will not let up before 7am on Oct 1, just before the National Day Parade.

The sky may clear Thursday afternoon and gales will hit the capital at night, causing temperature to drop a bit, he said.

The mist won't have any immediate impact on the military air parade, but the gales should be heeded.

In order to accurately predict the capital's weather during the National Day Parade, China Meteorological Administration (CMA) updates information on the weather every 6 minutes in the capital and every 5 minutes at Tian'anmen Square, the site of the National Day Parade.

Facing the ongoing complicated weather in the fall, the cooperation between meteorological departments and the military is also crucial in the weather service on Oct 1, said CMA spokesman Chen Zhenlin in a press release.

The bureau records show that the average temperature on Oct 1 will range from 16 C to 23 C and the average wind speed is 2m per second, suitable for outdoor celebrations.

(China Daily September 30, 2009)