# Canonical recap data for Great Smog of London (1952)
# Source: https://recap.at/1952/great-smog-london-1952
# Format: YAML 1.2 (UTF-8). Generated at request time.
slug: great-smog-london-1952
canonicalUrl: "https://recap.at/1952/great-smog-london-1952"
title: Great Smog of London
subtitle: The lethal smog killed thousands and catalyzed the 1956 Clean Air Act, marking the birth of modern environmental regulation.
recapType: global_event
eventStatus: concluded
startDate: 1952-12-05
endDate: 1952-12-09
datePrecision: day
year: 1952
decade: 1950
country:
name: United Kingdom
slug: united-kingdom
summaryShort: The Great Smog was a severe air pollution event that affected London, England, in December 1952. A period of unusually cold weather, combined with an anticyclone and windless conditions, collected airborne pollutants—mostly arising from the use of coal—to form a thick layer of smog over the city. It lasted from Friday,
summaryLong: The Great Smog was a severe air pollution event that affected London, England, in December 1952. A period of unusually cold weather, combined with an anticyclone and windless conditions, collected airborne pollutants—mostly arising from the use of coal—to form a thick layer of smog over the city. It lasted from Friday, 5 December to Tuesday, 9 December 1952, then dispersed quickly when the weather changed.
heroImageUrl: "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fb/1952_Great_London_Smog_mortality-2.png/1280px-1952_Great_London_Smog_mortality-2.png"
heroImageCredit: Great Britain Committee on Air Pollution · via Wikipedia
importance: 81
sourceConfidence: 75
keyFacts: []
timeline: []
sources:
- url: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Smog_of_London"
  title: Great Smog of London
  provider: Wikipedia
related: []
categories:
- disaster
metaDescription: The Great Smog was a severe air pollution event that affected London, England, in December 1952. A period of unusually cold weather, combined with an anticyclon
wikidataQid: Q913640
archiveSnapshots:
- url: "https://web.archive.org/web/20260626050359/https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Smog_of_London"
  capturedAt: 2026-06-26
  label: Great Smog of London
  originalUrl: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Smog_of_London"
