China improves meteorological monitoring, forecasting capability

BEIJING, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- China's meteorological monitoring and forecasting capability has been effectively improved, according to China Science Daily on Friday, with the coverage rate of the country's weather radars at 43.6 percent at an altitude of one km above the ground.

During a press conference on Thursday, Wang Yawei, head of the emergency disaster reduction and public service division under the China Meteorological Administration, said that the distance between meteorological observation stations in key flood control regions was close to eight km.

China currently has 546 sets of weather radars, Wang was quoted by the report.

The meteorological administration added three new buoy stations and 218 drifting buoys and, relying on the equipment such as weather radars, ground-based vertical remote sensing system and BeiDou sounding system, carried out coordinated observations of severe convection and typhoons in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta.

The administration has initiated a trial of short imminent flash flood risk warnings, updated every 10 minutes within three hours, and a pilot meteorological risk warning system for rainstorms and waterlogging in 17 cities, according to the report. ■