Gusting winds helped Beijing officials meet and beat their quota of 245 "blue-sky" days for 2007 just two days ahead of the New Year, thus keeping their earlier promise to the International Olympic Committee.

On December 30, strong winds cleared the heavy smog that often casts a pall over the city and residents were treated to a starry, starry night on New Year's Eve.

The relatively clement weather at the final stretch meant 246 days where Beijing's air quality dropped below 100 on the Air Pollution Index (API) -- a level that some critics say still fails to meet acceptable world standards.

Beijing officials were just happy to have met the tough quota.

"It has been very dramatic. At times we had our hearts in our throats," Du Shaozhong, deputy director of Beijing's environmental bureau, told local media recently. "We are happy, but we've got more work to do."

There were five more "blue-sky" days in 2007 than 2006, and only a quarter as many "heavily polluted" days, when the API hit 300 (three days instead of 13). Looking back to when Beijing started its clean-up project a decade ago, there were a meager 100 clear days in the first year.

For 2008, the year of the Beijing Games, the host city plans to increase the quota by another 11 days. Typically humid August should be cleaner than ever, with athletes and coaches the world over getting to experience the best conditions China can offer -- on land, sea and air.

To this end, Beijing will almost definitely remove more vehicles from the streets and suspend coal-burning plants in suburban areas and neighboring provinces for about two months starting just prior to the opening ceremony of the Games.

Beijing also adopted stricter fuel emissions from Tuesday to ensure its cars now meet the EURO IV standard. Power plants in Beijing will replace nitrogen oxide-reduction systems and the city is retrofitting its 1,400 gas stations to curb petroleum vaporization.

The government should enlist NGOs to help clean the air before the Games, said Yang Fuqiang, chief representative of the US-based Energy Foundation in Beijing. Du said he hopes Mother Nature pitches in to assist city officials with their Herculean task.