London fog 1952 full#

In the Isle of Dogs section of the city, visibility was officially recorded as “nil.” People carried lanterns and white clothes to make themselves visible on the sidewalks, and some took to wearing makeshift masks of gauze or fabric to aid their breathing. Visibility had been reduced in places to one foot, and people reported they could not see their own shoes. It became even thicker Sunday and again on Monday. After a few minutes, Cribb’s employer got out of the car and walked in front with a light, but even that did not help much.īy nightfall visibility had dropped to a few feet, and it got no better on Saturday. 5, Cribb was driving in the lead of a funeral procession as the smog settled in, the sky darkened, and he realized he was losing sight of the curb beside the road. “You had this swirling like somebody had set a load of car tires on fire,' mortician’s assistant Stan Cribb recalled.

London fog 1952 full#

City officials only became aware of the deaths and the full extent of the health crisis when they noticed the city’s supply of coffins had come close to being exhausted. Another 100,000 or more were made ill with respiratory ailments, crowding the city’s hospitals or suffering and dying quietly in their homes. Government medical reports later estimated the fog had killed 4,000 people, an estimate that more recent investigators have upped to as many as 12,000. People were disoriented clinging to buildings so they wouldn’t lose their way. Ducks were killed when they flew blindly into the sides of buildings. Animals at the annual Smithfield Animal Show had to be given oxygen, others died.

Crime increased as burglars took advantage of the unexpected cover. At railroad crossings, percussion caps were placed on the tracks so trains running over them caused explosions to warn passersby of their approach. Concerts and sporting events were cancelled motion picture theaters closed. However, smog is still a problem in cities such as Mexico City, Mexico Beijing, China and Los Angeles, United States.For five days in December 1952, the city of London was paralyzed by what has come to be known as the Great Fog, a smog so dense that people were blinded, driving was all but impossible, and aboveground public transport and ambulance services stopped. Many cities around the world have tried to limit how much pollution is in the air. The Great Smog of 1952 caused the United Kingdom to enact stricter laws about air pollution. This warmer air was very high in pollution from homes, cars, and factories. In addition, a mass of cold air blanketed the region the night before, trapping the valley’s warmer air below. The city is contained in a large river valley, limiting air circulation. London’s weather also contributed to the Great Smog.

London’s reliance on coal-fired power plants for electricity and heat, and diesel-powered buses for public transportation, contributed to the Great Smog. Smog is a type of air pollution, created by industrial output and natural weather patterns. This deadly weather event, the Great Smog, would last almost a week and cost between 4,000-10,000 lives.

On December 5, 1952, people in London, England, began to suffer respiratory illnesses after breathing thick smog.