Following the comments about London smog I received this from one my
colleagues :-

"When I was there in the 70s, the obs books from when it opened were still
there. It was interesting that during the smog events, the obs had something
like this each hour
2 yards
3 yards
1 yards
2 yards
1 yards
4 yards
2 yards

I suspect that they changed the viz out of boredom. I know that at some
stations (though whether at LAP I don't know), string was strung (!) between
the obs office door and the enclosure so that people didn't get lost. I was
at Kew Observatory in the mid 60s - and sometimes you had to know your way
round in the fog - but that was because it was in the middle of a golf
course and near the river, and fog drifted off the river."

Jon.

"Jon O'Rourke" wrote in message
...
Following the comments about London smog I received this from one my
colleagues :-

"When I was there in the 70s, the obs books from when it opened were still
there. It was interesting that during the smog events, the obs had
something like this each hour
2 yards
3 yards
1 yards
2 yards
1 yards
4 yards
2 yards

I suspect that they changed the viz out of boredom. I know that at some
stations (though whether at LAP I don't know), string was strung (!)
between the obs office door and the enclosure so that people didn't get
lost. I was at Kew Observatory in the mid 60s - and sometimes you had to
know your way round in the fog - but that was because it was in the middle
of a golf course and near the river, and fog drifted off the river."

Jon.


Those figures seem remarkable by today's standards. It reinforces my memory
of cycling to school along a fairly narrow road one day, unable to see the
opposite side of the road - possibly 1960/61. Also on one occasion,
probably in 1962, I was driving my father's car (slowly) in fog along the
then three-lane A2 south of Gravesend with my head out of the driver's
window (to get a clearer view) when suddenly I noticed the off-side kerb
beneath me. I still vividly remember the scare that gave me. Thank God
there was so little traffic around in those days!

Roger