Extreme weather lights up warning system

Eight radar towers and 20 screens providing early warning are already in operation. The system is designed to alert the public to potentially hazardous weather, including rainstorms and hail.

The eight steel towers are 16.6 meters high and have new warning lights at the top, which glow blue, yellow, orange or red according to the disaster grade, and which are currently being trailed. In the middle of each of the towers is a triangular stand with a 4.7-square-meter color LED screen on each of the three sides. Early warning information and weather reports from the Beijing Meteorological Bureau are displayed on these screens 24-hours a day.

"The LED screens have been in use since 2008, and they played an important role during the 29th Olympics and the 60th anniversary of the founding of the PRC; the light is still being tested," said the Beijing Meteorological Bureau.