15th Asian Games

BEIJING -- China may have to rely on cloud seeding to ensure adequate snowfall for the Asian Winter Games due to an unusually warm and dry winter in the country's northeast, state press reported on Tuesday.

Officials conducted successful cloud seeding tests this month that triggered substantial localized snowfalls in Changchun city, which hosts the January 28-February 4 event, the China Daily newspaper reported.

"Artificial snow could fulfill the needs of the Winter Games competitions. Several trial runs have proved successful," the paper quoted the secretary general of the organizing committee for the games, An Li, as saying.

It said snowfalls this winter have been one-fifth of their usual levels in northeast China.

Officials have relied on cloud seeding this winter to ensure adequate snowfall at northern China's many commercial ski resorts, which have seen record numbers of visitors, the paper said.

Snow making machines are also commonly used in Chinese ski resorts and elsewhere around the world, although Tuesday's report only referred to cloud seeding.

Twenty-seven countries and regions are expected to compete in the Games, Chinese state media have reported.