Great Smog of London

The Great Smog of London, or Great Smog of 1952, was an air pollution incident that affected London, England, in December 1952. A period of weirdly cold weather.  It lasted from Friday 5 December to Tuesday 9 December 1952, then disappeared quickly when the weather changed.

The smog caused major disruption by reducing visibility and even entering indoor areas, far more severely than previous smog events. Government medical reports in the weeks following the event estimated that up to 4,000 people had died as a result of the smog and 100,000 more were made ill by the smog's effects on the human respiratory tract. More recent research suggests that the total number of fatalities was greater, with estimates of between 10,000 and 12,000 deaths.

London's poor air quality had been a problem since at least the 13th century.  However, the Great Smog was many times worse than anything the city had ever experienced before: it is thought to be the worst air pollution event in the history of the United Kingdom,McKie, Robin & Townsend, Mark. Great Smog is history, but foul air still kills (The Observer, 24 November 2002). and the most significant for its effects on environmental research, government regulation, and public awareness of the relationship between air quality and health. It led to several changes in practices and regulations, including the Clean Air Act 1956.

References

Category:Air pollution
Category:1850s in the United Kingdom