The Deathly London Fog of 1952
On December 4th 1952 the city of London found itself trapped underneath a wall of fog and by December 9th when the fog finally lifted, roughly 12,000 had died. But it wasn't because of ghost pirates.
A high pressure air mass settled over the Thames river and when the sun dropped, a cold front moved in from the west forcing any wind to come to a stop. So the air above London sat still and as the temperature continued to drop, people began to fill their furnaces with coal to keep warm. Coal ash, soot and smoke filled the sky. The coal back then was low-grade and sulfurous.
In November 2016, scientists out of Texas A&M University finally figured out what caused such a terrible storm of events. The anticyclone mixed with the burning coal and other toxic elements with an above average humidity for that time of the year turned the air into a fog of concentrated sulfuric acid.
So how did this all go so wrong in 1952?
This kind of thick fog wasn't exactly news to London, they had gained a reputation for their fog going back all the way to the 13th century but this fog was different. It was named "pea-soup fog" after the artist John Sartain coined that term due to the fogs thickness and green color. The air stank of rotten eggs because of the sulfur and black sludge covered the streets. There were also various coal-fired power stations across the city. Back then according to the UK's Met Office the pollutants that were emitted each day were 1,000 tonnes of smoke particles, 140 tonnes of hydrochloric acid, 14 tonnes of fluorine compounds, and 370 tonnes of sulphur dioxide and because of the lack of wind, this all hung heavy in the air.
As this heavy fog settled, transportation was shut down, flights canceled and schools were closed. Even the ambulance services were halted. People were told to stay home and they did but they were cold so they continued to fill their furnaces with coal. Sporting events got cancelled but of course the pubs stayed open. Even movie theaters had to shut down because the fog was making its' way into the buildings. Could you imagine that? It would be so creepy just watching fog sneak in under the door.
By the third day of London trapped under the fog, it had grown thirty miles wide continuing to enter people's homes, even reaching up to people's knees. Farm animals were choking to death and drivers were abandoning their cars in the middle of roads, unable to see where they were headed. People who spent any time outside would come back covered in soot. And, of course, some people took advantage of this fog and burglaries took a spike and purses were snatched right off of women walking the streets.
On Sunday the 7th there was no letting up and emergency services were still shut down but the elderly and newborns began to die, unable to breathe and with no one to help them. As it continued to get worse, people all over began to choke and drop dead. Morgues began to overfill with bodies.
Finally on December 9th the anticyclone conditions broke and a cold wind came in from the West clearing out the fog. But as the fog lifted, Londoners were left to dealt with the aftermath. Undertakers had run out of coffins and the death count rose. People continued to be admitted to hospitals in the months that followed and deaths from bronchitis and pneumonia increased.
Now you'd think that there would be an uprising and the government would put in place some new laws and procedures immediately to ensure this would never happen again. But nope.
For four years the British government ignored what happened and it wasn't until 1956 that Parliament finally passed the Clean Air Act after years of public outcry and the death toll still rising. This Act restricted the burning of coal in any heavily populated areas. Homes were fitted with gas, electric and oil heating systems.
Unfortunately this wasn't the last time London had a deadly fog. In 1962 750 people died because of similar conditions. The reason the scientists out of Texas are studying this now is due to Beijing being in the same situation today. If there was just a small shift in weather like London in 1952, and the wind stops, China could be facing the same scary situation. But because of their massive population they could lose hundreds of thousands of lives.
Could you imagine how claustrophobic it must have felt to wake up and not be able to see a few feet in front of you on the street. And even escaping into your home was useless because the fog would continue to seep under your door frames. It's a complete horror movie made of natural causes.
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