Web Page No
2214
25th
November 2015
Top Picture: A London Bus struggles through the smog
Second Picture: On the Isle of Dogs the only safe way to proceed was to have someone walk in front of the car.
Third Picture: One of the easiest things to see were flares and here a LT man guides buses through the streets of London.
The Great Smog of 1952
Here in Portsmouth beside the sea we were lucky to escape the plaque of
the great smogs.
A fog so thick and polluted it left thousands dead and wreaked havoc on London
in 1952. The smoke-like pollution was so toxic it was even reported to have
choked cows to death in the fields. It was so thick it brought road, air and
rail transport to a virtual standstill. This was certainly an event to
remember, but not the first smog of its kind to hit the capital.
Smog had become a
frequent part of London life, but nothing quite compared to the smoke-laden fog
that shrouded the capital from Friday 5th December to Tuesday 9th December
1952. While it heavily affected the population of London, causing a huge death
toll and inconveniencing millions of people, the people it affected were also
partly to blame for the smog.
During the day on
5th December, the fog was not especially dense and generally possessed a dry,
smoky character. When nightfall came, however, the fog thickened. Visibility
dropped to a few metres. The following day, the sun was too low in the sky to
burn the fog away. That night and on the Sunday and Monday nights, the fog
again thickened. In many parts of London, it was impossible at night for
pedestrians to find their way, even in familiar districts. In The Isle of Dogs
area, the fog there was so thick people could not see their feet.
Britain has long been affected by mists and fogs,
but these became much more severe after the onset of the Industrial Revolution
in the late 1700s. Factories belched gases and huge numbers of particles into
the atmosphere, which in themselves could be poisonous. The pollutants in the
air, however, could also act as catalysts for fog, as water clings to the tiny
particles to create polluted fog, or smog. When some of the chemicals mix with
water and air, they can turn into acid which can cause skin irritations,
breathing problems, and even corrode buildings. Smog can be identified easily
by its thick, foul-smelling, dirty-yellow or brown characteristics, totally
different to the clean white fog in country areas.
There are reports
of thick smog, smelling of coal tar, which blanketed London in December 1813.
Lasting for several days, people claimed you could not see from one side of the
street to the other. A similar fog in December 1873 saw the death rate across
London rise 40% above normal. Marked increases in death rate occurred, too,
after the notable fogs of January 1880, February 1882, December 1891, December
1892 and November 1948. The worst affected area of London was usually the East
End, where the density of factories and homes was greater than almost anywhere
else in the capital. The area was also low-lying, making it hard for fog to
disperse.
How
the smog of 1952 formed
The weather in
November and early December 1952 had been very cold, with heavy snowfalls
across the region. To keep warm, the people of London were burning large
quantities of coal
in their homes. Smoke was pouring from the chimneys of their
houses.
Under normal
conditions, smoke would rise into the atmosphere and disperse, but an
anticyclone was hanging over the region. This pushes air downwards, warming it
as it descends. This creates an inversion, where air close to the ground is
cooler than the air higher above it. So when the warm smoke comes out of the
chimney, it is trapped. The inversion of 1952 also trapped particles and gases
emitted from factory chimneys in the London area, along with pollution which
the winds from the east had brought from industrial areas on the continent.
Early on 5th
December, in the London area, the sky was clear, winds were light and the air
near the ground was moist. Accordingly, conditions were ideal for the formation
of radiation fog. The sky was clear, so a net loss of long-wave radiation
occurred and the ground cooled. When the moist air came into contact with the
ground it cooled to its dew-point temperature and condensation occurred.
Beneath the inversion of the anticyclone, the very light wind stirred the
saturated air upwards to form a layer of fog 100-200 metres deep. Along with
the water droplets of the fog, the atmosphere beneath the inversion contained
the smoke from innumerable chimneys in the London area.
During the period
of the fog, huge amounts of impurities were released into the atmosphere. On
each day during the foggy period, the following pollutants were emitted: 1,000
tonnes of smoke particles, 2,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide, 140 tonnes of
hydrochloric acid and 14 tonnes of fluorine compounds. In addition, and perhaps
most dangerously, 370 tonnes of sulphur dioxide were converted into 800 tonnes
of sulphuric acid.
The fog finally
cleared on December 9th, but it had already taken a heavy toll.
- About 4,000 people were
known to have died as a result of the fog, but it could be many more.
- Many people suffered from
breathing problems
- Press reports claimed cattle
at Smithfield had been asphyxiated by the smog.
- Travel was disrupted for
days
A series of laws
were brought in to avoid a repeat of the situation. This included the Clean Air
Acts of 1956 and 1968. These acts banned emissions of black smoke and decreed
residents of urban areas and operators of factories must convert to smokeless
fuels.
People were given
time to adapt to the new rules, however, and fogs continued to be smoky for
some time after the Act of 1956 was passed. In 1962, for example, 750 Londoners
died as a result of a fog, but nothing on the scale of the 1952 Great Smog has
ever occurred again. This kind of smog has now become a thing of the past,
thanks partly to pollution legislation and also to modern developments, such as
the widespread use of central heating.
Keep
in touch
Peter
gsseditor@gmail.com
You Write:
News and Views:
On this day 25th November 1960-1965
On 25/10/1960 the
number one single was Only the
Lonely - Roy Orbison and the number one
album was South
Pacific Soundtrack. The top rated TV
show was No Hiding Place and the box office smash was Psycho. A pound of today's money was worth £13.68 and
Tottenham Hotspur were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1
champions.The big news story of the day was Britain launches first nuclear
submarine.
On 25/10/1961 the
number one single was Walkin'
Back to Happiness - Helen Shapiro and the number one album was Black & White Minstrel Show - George
Mitchell Minstrels. The top rated TV show was Sunday Night at the London
Palladium and the box office smash was One Hundred and One Dalmations. A pound of today's money was worth £13.25 and
Ipswich Town were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions
On 25/10/1962 the
number one single was Telstar - The Tornadoes and the number one album was Best
of Ball Barber & Bilk. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street and the box office smash was Lawrence of Arabia. A pound of today's money was worth £12.89 and
Everton were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.
On 25/10/1963 the
number one single was Do You Love Me? - Brian Poole & the Tremoloes and the
number one album was Please Please Me - The Beatles. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street and the box office smash was The Great Escape. A
pound of today's money was worth £12.64 and Liverpool were on the way to
becoming the Season's Division.
On 25/10/1964 the
number one single was Oh Pretty Woman - Roy Orbison and the number one album
was A Hard
Day's Night - Beatles. The top rated TV
show was Coronation Street and the box
office smash was Dr Strangelove. A pound of today's money was worth £12.24 and
Manchester United were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1
champions.
On 25/10/1965 the
number one single was Tears -
Ken Dodd and the number one
album was The Sound of Music Soundtrack. The top rated TV show was Coronation Street and the box
office smash was The Sound of Music. A pound of today's money was worth £11.69
and Liverpool were on the way to becoming the Season's Division 1 champions.
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