The Great London Smog

摘要

London has been notorious for its "great stinking fogs" since medieval times, so no one was unduly alarmed to wake up on Friday, December 5, 1952, to the sight of dense gray vapor haloing the streetlights. Meteorologists knew that the atmosphere over the Thames Valley was ripe for a temperature inversion. The ground was damp and chilly after a stretch of cold, rainy weather, the early winter sun hung low in the sky, a stubborn ridge of high pressure killed winds at the surface, and no fronts loomed on the horizon to stir things up. It was a textbook setup for a prolonged spell of fog.