Air pollution can cause serious respiratory and cardiovascular problems through emissions of toxic greenhouse gases from industry and transportation. An extreme example of this was the Great Smog of London in 1952. This period saw the accumulation of polluting smog due to atmospheric patterns, which we will discuss below, resulting in the deaths of many people.
In this article we are going to tell you about all the characteristics, causes and consequences of the great fog in London.
Great London Fog
In general, Western European cities have breathed cleaner air in recent years. Updates on thick layer pollution almost always refer to cities in northern China, where photos of streets tens of meters away cannot be seen due to the spread of viral smog. The World Health Organization has repeatedly warned people about the risks of lung and cardiovascular disease living in these conditions. One of the most notorious cases was the great fog in London in 1952, which was recreated in the first season of the British series The Crown.
On December 5th, the worst pollution disaster in history began in the British Isles. London was hit by a wave of cold winds for weeks, so to heat homes and offices, they used the heat from burning coal, a situation similar to that observed in other eras due to the use of fossil fuels, as detailed in the article on types of fog.
People were so used to the smog that they weren't surprised when air pollution choked cities with so much smog that it was more polluted than usual. In this case, the pollution was so bad that it was impossible to see from one side of the street to the other ; in some parts of East London, you couldn't see your feet, according to the BBC.
The ABC correspondent described this phenomenon in this way:
“These thick, almost solid fogs that eat the buses preceded by a man on foot with a resin ax in his hand; that turn off the sound; that force "cinemas" to announce to the public that "the visibility of the screen does not go beyond the fourth row"; that suspends, as happened last December 8, a performance of La Traviata due to sudden laryngitis of the tenor and the two sopranos and because the choirs could not see the maestro's baton; that also enters the houses and the lungs; that dirty the furniture and blacken the clothes and the saliva, that sticks to the glass, to the curtains and to the paintings, is the scourge of the cardiac, of the asthmatic and of those whose bronchial tubes are in misery and die. They die without assistance, sometimes, because the doctor cannot get through the "blanket" in time, which reduces the horizon to two yards.
Causes of the Great London Fog
In the morning, the fog began to change color due to the large amount of soot from chimneys and car pollution , a situation exacerbated by the recent replacement of electric trams with diesel-powered buses. These factors combined to create a volatile mix that claimed thousands of lives in a matter of days.
For five days, a thick fog from a cold, windless front enveloped central London and a 20-mile radius. Excess black smoke from the burning of poor-quality fossil fuels made the fog denser, richer in sulfur, and causing it to release sulfuric acid particles. This creates a phenomenon called smog, a mixture of fog and smoke that is very harmful to health, something that has also been seen in previous years.
The city became a bubble of air pollution: it was barely visible from meters away, land and air traffic ground to a halt, and people wandered the streets wearing masks. Dantean scenes were recorded, such as drivers driving their cars with their heads out the windows, and some were forced to abandon their vehicles in the middle of the road with no visibility.
Coal has been London's primary fuel since the 17th century. Long gone are the days when firewood was used to heat palaces and private homes, as forests were becoming scarce due to shipbuilding and house construction, a precious commodity. By the mid-20th century, the problem was the economic crisis that was stifling Great Britain, forcing it to export its best-quality coal, as well as other coal with a higher sulfur content for domestic consumption.
career and death
As time passed, the fog not only failed to dissipate but grew thicker and thicker. Many concerts were canceled because smoke even seeped into the enclosed venues; a performance of La Traviata at Sadler's Wells Theatre was canceled because the stage was no longer visible from the box seats. Authorities also advised families not to send their children to school to avoid them getting lost.
The only thing that was not canceled is the traditional cross country race between the Oxford and Cambridge teams at Wimbledon. Of course, the long-distance runners had to wear masks to prevent their lungs from filling with toxic gases, and they were guided by the judges, who yelled at them: "This way, this way!" all time.
Logically, these infernal signs led to an increase in vandalism and crime: looting, robberies, and thefts of wallets and purses, thanks to the cover provided by the darkness. But the most striking aspect was the number of deaths recorded during the five days the fog persisted, as is well known, and the resulting effects: it is estimated that 12.000 people died, mostly newborns and the elderly, from upper respiratory tract infections, hypoxia, or upper airway obstruction.
After five days of pitch black and noxious smog, the Great Smog dissipated on December 9th , when a strong westerly wind blew the harmful clouds from London out over the North Sea. Faced with an environmental catastrophe, the British Parliament was forced to take draconian legal measures to limit the use of industrial fossil fuels and reduce air pollution.
I hope that with this information you can learn more about the great fog in London and its consequences.