Artificial rain brings drought relief to northern, western China

China made artificial rainfall in its northern and western regions to reduce drought and the risk of forest fire on Monday and Tuesday, according to the China Meteorological Administration.

The move came after several recent forest fires in provinces, like Southwest China's Sichuan, Shaanxi in the Northwest and East China's Jiangxi.

Shi Yueqin, an official from the administration, said that 25 aircraft set out to make rain with 3,244 rocket shells and 2,832 artillery shells fired into the air inBeijing, Tianjin, North China's Hebei and Shanxi provinces and Inner Mongolia autonomous region, and Northwest China's Gansu province.

According to the Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences under the administration, it was estimated that the artificial rainfall would affect 68.2 million hectares and that the temperature of these areas would drop significantly.

Yang Xiaodan, a deputy chief engineer from the administration, said that the artificial rainfall has efficiently alleviated drought in the north and obviously reduces occurrence risks of forest fire in the north and west.

"Influenced by the rain, the forest fire danger class has fallen from extremely high to relatively low in Shanxi and Shaanxi provinces. The rain also added to the air's humidity and soil moisture nationwide," she said.