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“All the News That’s
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VOL. I No. 1 Copyright © 2020: The Science Behind
Remembering
New York City’s
1966 Smog
Emergency
New York City, United States of
America, 1966
Over Thanksgiving weekend
in 1966, the layer of smog that hung above
New York City killed about 200 people
(Cohen, 2017).
The view to the south from the Empire State Building
on Nov. 24, 1966, one of New York’s worst smog days.
Credit...Neal Boenzi/The New York Times
I n the early 1960s, New York
City’s air quality was among the na-
tion’s worst. Incinerated garbage rained
ash on neighborhood children at play.
Coal-fueled power plants belched nox-
ious emissions.
It was when thanksgiving week-
end in 1966 when the smoggiest day in
the city’s history has been recorded. On
November. 24, 1966, a dense smog
shrouded all of New York City, be-
tween November 24 and November 30,
New York City documented an increase
of about 24 smog-related deaths per day
(Spector, 2013).
It was warm, and a haze of smog
— sulfur dioxide and carbon monoxide
— wrapped around the city. About 200
people died, a toll similar to a smog
crisis in 1953 which has happened in
London
Just like the other cases of smog
in other cities, the New York City Smog
is mainly because of the large mass of
stagnant air which trapped pollutants in
the city's air. The city has been engulfed
in dangerously high levels of carbon
monoxide, sulfur dioxide, smoke, and
haze caused by a combination of sta-
tionary sources, such as industrial coal-
burning, and mobile sources, such as
motor vehicles.
This confinement of the pollu-
tants in the city’s air and the formation
of lethal smog across the city is mainly
because of temperature inversion that
occurred that time.
continuation of article on page 2 . . .
References:
Martinez, J. (2019). Great Smog of London. Encyclopædia Britannica. Accessed from https://www.britannica.com/event/Great-Smog-of-
London
Klein C. (2012). The Great Smog of 1952. Accessed from https://www.history.com/news/the-killer-fog-that-blanketed-london-60-years-
ago
Cohen M. (2017). Remembering New York City’s days of deadly smog. Accessed from https://www.6sqft.com/remembering-new-york-
citys-days-of-deadly-smog/#:~:text=Over%20Thanksgiving%20weekend%20in%201966,over%20a%20six%2Dday%20stretch.
Spector, D. (2013). This Old Picture Of Manhattan Smog Looks Just Like Beijing Today. Accessed from
www.businessinsider.com/manhattan-smog-photos-1966-2013-1
SORSOGON STATE COLLEGE, NOVEMBER 29, 2020
Great Smog of London, 1952.
G
© Keystone—Hulton Archive/Getty Images
reat Smog of London, le-
thal smog that covered the city
of London for five days (December 5–
9) in 1952, caused by a combination of
industrial pollution and high-
pressure weather conditions. This com-
bination of smoke and fog brought the
city to a near standstill and resulted in
thousands of deaths (Martinez, 2019).
Heavy smog at Piccadilly Circus, London, in Decem-
ber 1952. Photograph: Central Press/Getty Images
London Fog Becomes London Smog
There are actually number of rea-
sons as to why this Great Smog in Lon-
don became drastically worst than ever.
Way back then, many people in Lon-
don were burning coal to stay warm, the
coal being burned during this time wa
sulfur-rich which releases vast quanti-
ties of sulfur oxides into
the environment. Also, power
plants and industrial buildings in the
city were mainly burning coal to oper-
ate.
The air quality in the place back
then is indeed polluted already, but
what made the situation worst is the
anticyclone that settled over London on
December 5, it was a high-pressure
weather system, that pushes air down-
ward and warms it as it descends, thus
this caused a temperature inversion,
whereby the layer of warm air high
above the surface trapped the stagnant,
cold air at ground level.
The warm air can be represented
as a lid above the colder air below that
blocks the gases, smoke and other emis-
sions from the lower ground level
which are mixed with the naturally oc-
curring fog that winter time.
Page 1 of 3
Php. FREE
The Great Smog
of London
England, United Kingdom, 1952
The Great Smog of London
smothered the city, wreaking havoc
and killing thousands for five con-
secutive days in December 1952
(Klein, 2012).
This temperature inversion
prevented the emission from power
plants, industrial factories and
household to be released into the
atmosphere which were trapped
near ground level and made the
worst pollution-based fog across the
city.
Police officer on duty using flares to guide the traffic
in London 1952. Photograph: Alamy
The Great Smog paralyzed Lon-
don and crippled all transportation,
except for the London Under-
ground train system. The smog was so
dense that residents in some sections
of the city were unable to see their feet
as they walked (Klein, 2012).
The situation was much more
than a nuisance. It was lethal, particu-
larly for the elderly, young children
and those with respiratory problems
(Klein, 2012).
It wasn’t until undertakers be-
gan to run out of coffins and florists
out of bouquets that the deadly impact
of the Great Smog was realized.
Deaths from bronchitis and pneumonia
increased more than sevenfold. The
death rate in London’s East End in-
creased ninefold (Klein, 2012).
Their situation that time is in-
deed the worst thing that ever hap-
pened to them and they really need to
adapt an effective solution. The gov-
ernment’s biggest and effective inter-
vention in providing solution to the
situation was the passing of the Clean
Air Act of 1956, which restricted the
burning of coal in urban areas and au-
thorized local councils to set up smoke
-free zones . Homeowners received
grants to convert from coal to alterna-
tive heating systems. . This marked a
turning point in the history
of environmentalism.
https://
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continuation of Remembering New York City’s 1966 Smog

Emergency . . .

Smog trapped under

an inversion in Almaty, Kazakhstan—similar to the
atmospheric conditions of the 1966 New York City
smog.

The effect of Thermal Inversion

Typically, air temperature lowers
with higher altitude. Contrastingly,
with temperature inversion, cooler air
China’s “airpocalypse” Smog is being suspended below warm air,
preventing the lower air from rising
Beijing, China, 2013 and trapping airborne pollutants that
Year 2013 wasn’t the first year that smog blackened Chinese cities with appalling would ordinarily disperse in the atmos-
frequency, closed airports and roads, and sent children to hospitals with pollution-filled phere, this prevents the emission of
lungs. Though labored breathing and chronic hacking have long been a fact of life for these pollutants into the atmosphere
most Chinese people, something in the awareness of the problem shifted this year—2013 and in most cases mixed with the dense
will be remembered as the year that China’s struggle with air pollution went mainstream air below or just above the ground
(Wong, 2013).
which results to the formation of smog.

A heavy pollution engulfed the city of Beijing in China – called as

"airpocalypse" or "airmageddon" by internet users, it has fundamentally and com-
Generally, smog events occur
not because of an increase in the re-
pletely changed the way that Chinese people think and see about their country's gion’s output of pollution, but because
toxic air. of the weather conditions like stagnant
air prevent the dispersal of pollutants
On one day, pollution levels were 30 times higher than levels deemed safe that were already present in the place.
by the World Health Organization (WHO). Flights were cancelled. Roads were
closed. One hospital in east Beijing reported treating more than 900 children for Intervention
respiratory issues. Bloomberg found that for most of January, Beijing's air was
worse than that of an airport smoking lounge (Kaiman, 2013).
The Beijing’s widespread air pollution can be attributed by the following
causes/factors: an enormous economic boom, a surge in the number of motorized
vehicles, population growth, output from manufacturing, and natural reasons
which include the city’s surrounding topography and seasonal weather.
The natural reasons which are included in some of these causes can be
specified as the inversion in temperature during winter season in the region. Chi-
President Johnson (seated, right) signing the Air
na’s air pollution is one of the worst air pollution worldwide, and this is not new Quality Act of 1967. The series of amendments to the
to them. However, last 2013, it was when it become more worse than worst. Par- 1963 Clean Air Act was enacted in response to the
ticularly, during winter, due to the intense radiational cooling, the region is was 1966 smog.
engulfed in heavy smog lingering for days and posing a serious health threat.
It was the creation in 1970 of the
This happened when the present pollutants and gasses in the region’s envi- Environmental Protection Agency, the
ronment mix with the fog that are formed during winter season. Also with the result of a growing national focus on
temperature inversion, in which the air temperature at the ground level is lower clean air and water in the decade prior,
than the temperature of the air at higher altitude. This colder air temperature be- that intervened.
low is so dense that the gases and pollutants present on that part are being stag-
nant on it, and the warmer air above it traps the emission of the pollutants into the The Clean Air Act, greatly ex-
atmosphere, this is how the lethal smog was formed and became a risk to the so- panded in 1970, regulated emissions
ciety’s life. from factories and cars. Apartment in-
cinerators were given the heave-ho in
Concerned with the adverse health and environmental consequences from 1993, and the last municipal incinerator
severe air pollution, the government of China has declared “war on air pollution,” shut down in 1999 (though it’s worth
implementing a series of mitigation actions. In 2013, the State Council issued the noting that even as recently as 2006,
Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan. This includes the reduction of the EPA declared that 68 out of every
coal consumption, financing ultra-low-emission upgrades, using renewable ener- million New Yorkers was at risk for
gy, such as solar and wind energy, they also started leveraging additional re- getting cancer just from inhaling the
sources and scaling up green financing. These are all for creating a healthier at- city’s air) (Cohen, 2017).
mosphere for future generations.

References:
Wong, H. ( 2013). 2013 will be remembered as the year that deadly, suffocating smog consumed China. Accessed from https://
qz.com/159105/2013-will-be-remembered-as-the-year-that-deadly-suffocating-smog-consumed-china/
Kaiman, J. (2013). Chinese struggle through 'airpocalypse' smog. Accessed from https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/feb/16/
chinese-struggle-through-airpocalypse-smog
Cohen M. (2017). Remembering New York City’s days of deadly smog. Accessed from https://www.6sqft.com/remembering-new-york-
citys-days-of-deadly-smog/#:~:text=Over%20Thanksgiving%20weekend%20in%201966,over%20a%20six%2Dday%20stretch.
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“Meteorology Questions Today”

1. Answer the following questions:
(a) Assume the wind is blowing at 30 mi/hr and the air temperature is 5°F. Determine the wind-chill equivalent
temperature in Table 3.2, p. 74.

The wind chill equivalent temperature

is -19°F if the wind is blowing at 30 mi/hr and
the temperature is 5°F.

The National Weather Service's wind chill chart, expressed in degrees Fahrenheit and miles per
hour. (NWS / NOAA) Accessed from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/what-wind-
chill-and-how-does-it-affect-human-body-180971376/

(b) Under the conditions listed in (a) above, explain why an ordinary thermometer would measure a temperature of
5°F and not a much lower temperature.
In the given situation where the wind is blowing at 30 mi/hr and the air temperature measured in an ordinary ther-
mometer is 5°F and not at a much lower temperature because even though the wind chill equivalent is at a much lower
measurement which is from the given situation is at -19°F it does not mean that the air temperature will also be lower.
This is because an ordinary thermometer is designed only to measure the air temperature or the actual temperature of the
air. On the other hand, the wind chill index is based on what temperature is being perceived by our skin or what we call
sensible temperature which depends on the blowing of the wind – the faster the wind blows, the greater the heat loss, thus
the colder we feel.

2. What atmospheric conditions can bring on frostbite and hypothermia?

Hypothermia is the rapid, progressive mental and physical collapse that
accompanies the lowering of human body temperature which is caused by
some of the following atmospheric conditions that can greatly trigger a rapid
loss of body heat such as (a) a cold and rainy day (drizzly, or even foggy), (b)
in cold, wet, and windy weather, and (c) relatively mild weather with air tem-
peratures as high as 10°C (50°F).

Hypothermia is defined as a core body temperature below

35 °C. (Photo: Colourbox)

(a) (b) (c)

M E T E O R O L OG Y N O W: S C I E N C E B E H I N D A I R T E M P E R A T U R E
H AR LE TTE A. LAGU ID AO
B SE D SC IEN CE S 3 A