Okay, so 36 hours is not a giant sample of evidence. Beijing started the "odd-even" alternating days for vehicles to drive yesterday. Take a look at the pictures in this post. The first is the morning yesterday morning. With no rain, no appreciable breeze, things cleared during the day. Maybe it was just a slighty foggy morning. Talking with the NBC crew members who have been here 12 days longer, the also mention the improvement in the haze factor. According to them, you wouldn't have even be able to see the whitebuildings in the first shot when they first got here.

The next picture is from is this morning. Big difference from yesterday - and an incredible difference from two weeks ago. Dont get me wrong and thiknk it's like alpine air now, we're still looking alot like Los Angeles on a bad day, but for here it's a big improvement.

The factories shut down a month ago. Vehicle use is being restricted. The skies are clearing. This stunning city and it's people may be off to the right start for the games.

Go to the KING5/NBC Olympic Zone for the most complete updates on our Northwest athletes and more Olympics news.