London experienced its first wintertime smog of the season last month when the settled weather that led to fog delays at Heathrow also caused pollution problems across the capital. As air drifted very slowly across London between 20 and 22 November it accumulated pollution, creating a clear gradient across the city; moderate airborne particles were measured in the west and northern suburbs while air pollution remained low on the other side of London. Although pollution from traffic was a major cause, unusually the greatest pollution was not measured during rush hour but occurred in the late afternoon and evening of Sunday the 20th when many people would have been at home.
This raises interesting questions about the contribution of pollution from domestic heating, and most especially the renewed popularity of open fires. Big cities are vulnerable to wintertime smog. The Paris authorities declared pollution alerts between 21 and 23 November and Berlin had pollution problems on 12 days during the month.
Earlier in November widespread pollution problems from Guy Fawkes fireworks across the north-west of the UK were followed by a flow of polluted air from Europe. This added to local traffic pollution in towns to cause moderate airborne particles in urban areas across eastern England: in London, Norwich, Scunthorpe and Sheffield on 8 November spreading north to Leeds, York and Newcastle upon Tyne on 9 November.