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15
COMMENTS ON THE LONDON FOG.
During the period 5th to 8th December, an area of high pressure
lay stationary over the Greater London area, and brought with it almost
complete calm, a condition which was most conducive to the formation of
fog® On the 5th it consisted mainly of smoke, but on the following three
days it developed into a very thick water fog which extended outside the
London area. The production of a water fog is not necessarily advanced
by the existence of smoke; nevertheless such a circumstance may well
contribute to the persistency of a fog. A feature of the disastrous
occurrence now under consideration was the remarkable variations of smoke
concentration noted. On one occasion the highest concentration exceeded
the lowest by 14 times. Another indication of the abnormal conditions
can be appreciated by a reference to results obtained from the working of
an air-conditioning plant at a London building under the control of the
Ministry of Works. Filters to the plant were shown to be clogging at a
rate of 26 times the normal, and during one four-hours period this rate
soared to 54 times the normal.
A consideration of the effect these "epidemic" conditions had
upon the health of the population is eloquently portrayed by a perusal
of the following table which gives details of deaths from certain causes
prior to the exceptional conditions, and also for the two weeks following
the clearing of the fogo
Week ended; London Administrative County
1952 Deaths from:
Bronchitis & Diseases of the Heart
Pneumonia. & Circulatory System.,
November 1st 67 223
8th 74 226
15th 74 247
22nd 77 264
29th 101 312
December 6th 121 318
13th 872 801
20th 521 457
27th 275 325
Having regard to the mortality attributable to the exceptional
weather, it would seem reasonable to assume that upwards of a million
people were more or less seriously affected. It is significant to
read that deaths from Bronchitis and Pneumonia in the two weeks following
the fog showed increases of 400 per cent and 200 per cent respectively
as compared with the figures for the week ending 6th December. The
increase in sickness was mainly due to respiratory disease, which was
nearly quadrupled, although heart disease also rose to about three
times the normal number. Some indication of the increased morbidity