For the past 4-5 days I have been observing an unusual amount of videos with the topic going semi-viral that are all mentioning a "thick mysterious fog" with some videos going as far as claiming that it's making people sick.
So we could have four issues here:
(1) Do thick fogs occur in cities,
(2) Can they affect health?
(3) If so, has their been an unusual number of such events recently?
(4) Is there anything mysterious happening?
Looking at
(1) and
(2) together:
Fog/ smog isn't unusual in many cities, though as usual many of the social media video makers choose to ignore a couple of centuries of evidence, historical accounts, photographs and newspaper coverage in order to ramp up the "mystery".
Smog (Wikipedia,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smog) in developed nations' cities is largely caused by the burning of fossil fuels (in less developed places, regional burning of crop stubble contributes). Prevailing temperature and weather conditions play a significant part. The causal mechanisms are well understood.
It negatively affects health, and can cause fatal asthma attacks and complications in people with other respiratory illnesses. It almost certainly contributes to many people developing respiratory/ cardiovascular illnesses in the first place.
Reductions in coal burning and local ordnances limiting domestic coal use in some western cities, more efficient internal combustion engines and the fitting of catalytic converters to road vehicles has reduced the problem (sometimes dramatically) in some places. Prohibitions on/ alternatives to stubble burning have also helped. However, greater car /truck use in some places increases air pollution, and major wildfires (which might be connected to anthropogenic global warming) plus deliberate, sometimes illegal, burns of forested areas in e.g. Brazil, Indonesia can worsen air quality over a large area.
External Quote:
1943: In the middle of World War II, Los Angeles residents believe the Japanese are attacking them with chemical warfare. A thick fog that makes people's eyes sting and their noses run has taken hold of the city. Visibility is cut down to three city blocks.
As residents would later find out, the fog was not from an outside attacker, but from their own vehicles and factories.
Wired website, "July 26, 1943: L.A. Gets First Big Smog", Jess McNally, July 26, 2010
https://www.wired.com/2010/07/0726la-first-big-smog/, my emphasis (one of the claimed witnesses in the OP complained of stinging eyes).
The December 1952 London smog was estimated at the time to have caused 4,000 deaths over 4 days (5-9 December),
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Smog_of_London; later estimates were much higher.
Chart correlating smoke, sulphur dioxide with mortality, (L), click to enlarge;
Excess deaths in London during, post-1952 smog, (R), click to enlarge.
London had been associated with thick smog ("pea-soupers") for maybe a century, and had the nickname (rarely heard now) of "The Smoke", but a combination of weather factors, the increase in petrol/ diesel vehicles, plus a continued heavy reliance on coal for domestic heating and power generation contributed to the 1952 event.
Cattle at Smithfield Market died (or had to be slaughtered, I've read conflicting accounts) because of the effects of the smog.
Daytime sporting events were cancelled because visibility was so poor.
The subsequent (UK) Clean Air Act, 1956 and later legislation has helped prevent a recurrence, but air pollution remains an issue in London. In 2020, a Coroner's Court ruled that air pollution be listed as a cause of death of a 9 year-old South London girl, Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah; "Ella Adoo-Kissi-Debrah: Air pollution a factor in girl's death, inquest finds",
BBC News, 16 December 2020
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-55330945.
Air pollution has continued to be a major impactor on health in the USA and many other developed nations,
External Quote:
TRUMP: "We have the cleanest air in the world in the United States, and it's gotten better since I'm president. We have the cleanest water. It's crystal clean and I always say I want crystal clean water and air. ... We're setting records environmentally." — remarks Wednesday.
THE FACTS: The U.S. does not have the cleanest air, and it hasn't gotten better under the Trump administration...
...The U.S. ranks poorly on smog pollution, which kills 24,000 Americans per year. On a scale from the cleanest to the dirtiest, the U.S. is at 123 out of 195 countries measured.
AP News, "AP FACT CHECK: Trump didn't set records on clean air in US", Hope Yen, Seth Borenstein, June 5, 2019
https://apnews.com/article/donald-t...-news-health-a2e7024d43c9409087ec8d5245534092
-So for (1) and (2) yes, fog/ smog does occur in cities and can sometimes be much worse than people are used to.
Man-made air pollution afflicts many cities and is a definite risk to health; some people die as a consequence.
(3) Has there been an unusual number of such events recently?
We might get that impression from some posters on social media. But we can find people/ groups making all sorts of strange, misguided, extreme and/ or just plain untrue statements on social media- as well as helpful, entertaining and uplifting stuff.
The major platforms/ providers do
not vet posts for reliability or honesty (with very few exceptions- and even then they are often slow to react).
The United States National Weather Service website is here;
https://www.weather.gov/, as of 04/01/25 there doesn't appear to be a large amount of fog.
In fact, for "Dense Fog Advisory" we get this, just one area of Oklahoma and Texas,
External Quote:
National Weather Service Amarillo TX
249 PM CST Sat Jan 4 2025
... ...
...DENSE FOG ADVISORY REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 6 PM CST THIS EVENING...
* WHAT...For the Dense Fog Advisory, visibility one quarter mile or less in dense fog...
* WHERE...In Oklahoma, Beaver and Texas Counties. In Texas, Lipscomb and Ochiltree Counties.
* WHEN...For the Dense Fog Advisory, until 6 PM CST this evening.
https://forecast.weather.gov/wwamap/wwatxtget.php?cwa=usa&wwa=Dense Fog Advisory (33:00 GMT 04/01/25),
...and for "Freezing Fog Advisory" we get this, an area around Cheyenne and a broad bit of southern Washington (state).
External Quote:
National Weather Service Cheyenne WY
107 PM MST Sat Jan 4 2025
... ...
...FREEZING FOG ADVISORY NOW IN EFFECT UNTIL 5 PM MST THIS AFTERNOON...
* WHAT...Visibility less than one mile in freezing fog.
* WHERE...Central Laramie County and South Laramie Range Foothills.
* WHEN...Until 5 PM MST this afternoon.
and
External Quote:
National Weather Service Pendleton OR
806 AM PST Sat Jan 4 2025
... ...
...FREEZING FOG ADVISORY IN EFFECT UNTIL 5 PM PST THIS AFTERNOON...
* WHAT...Visibility one to two miles with areas below one mile in freezing fog.
* WHERE...Kittitas Valley, Simcoe Highlands, Yakima Valley, and Lower Columbia Basin of Washington.
* WHEN...Until 5 PM PST this afternoon.
https://forecast.weather.gov/wwamap/wwatxtget.php?cwa=usa&wwa=Freezing Fog Advisory
No fog advisories for New Jersey, New York City, LA or anywhere else that I can see.
Of course, this is a weather map/ advisory service for a very large country, and there will be many isolated patches of fog and mist, and perhaps smog, in some areas.
But the idea that anyone is trying to hide the sky because of drone activity is a non-starter I would have thought!
And it
is mid-winter in the northern hemisphere.
On Metabunk we've seen some people claim that aircraft contrails didn't happen until recent years, which is incorrect, and recently we saw a claim that the Moon was not visible during the day until the 1970s (IIRC), which is incorrect and absurd.
I wouldn't be too surprised if
some social media folk start saying "We've never had fog here!" or "This fog is different!".
If there has been a significant increase in dense fog over urban areas, we might expect increased travel disruption and flight cancellations, more than is usual for this time of year.
Local news providers and weather reports might mention it. If there had been an unexpected spike in ED admissions for unexplained respiratory complications, it would be noted. Remember COVID-19?
Responsible people notice these things.
So far, our only evidence of an unusual fog is anecdotal, along with some wholly ambiguous (and largely context-free) video clips. These anecdotes and clips have come via media where people can largely say whatever they like, and do. Some of the sources appear to have other beliefs that are not evidence-based, and a habit of supporting unusual claims that do not pan out.
"Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence."
But no-one has provided clear evidence of anything, just their anecdotes. And we know that the anecdotes of people who make unusual claims without evidence are often, erm,
mistaken.
(4) Is there anything mysterious happening?
The people making the claims have not provided evidence that there is.
One city said to be afflicted with the mysterious fog was Los Angeles. There are quite a lot of people there, and I expect a few have smartphones. Have we seen downtown LA or the Hollywood sign veiled by strange fog in the middle of the day, like Tower Bridge and Piccadilly Circus were during the 1952 London smog? No, we have not.
Are any birds/ wild animals or livestock mysteriously collapsing in the fog? Not that anyone's told us yet.
Original poster, quoting a fog proponent's video:
Host talks about a range of symptoms being caused by the fog "people are getting getting sick flu like symptoms after experiencing this fog
It's midwinter.
This is when most cases of the common cold and influenza happen (most years).
'Flu in the UK has struck with a vengeance again this winter, but there have been no reports of strange fogs here AFAIK.
(I'm sure there will be backdated claims, we hate to be missed out- but the fact is, US conspiracy theorists are more original):
External Quote:
It is not unusual to see an increase in flu during winter. The UK Health Security Agency says "this was anticipated"...
BBC News, 03/01/2025, "Flu rises sharply in England's hospitals, NHS warns", Smitha Mundasad and Philippa Roxby,
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c047ky5qv4ro
People saying they have 'flu-like symptoms might have the 'flu. Many might just have a cold.
It's unlikely that they feel unwell because of clouds of nanobots, because there aren't any clouds of nanobots.
That sort of technology doesn't exist yet, and there is no compelling reason to think that the many hurdles that would need to be overcome to field such a technology have all been accomplished, in secret, ignoring the multi-billion dollar potential of many of the breakthroughs necessary, in order to give some conspiracy theorists some minor symptoms.
I don't think anything mysterious is happening. Some people have made some extraordinary claims, but that seems to be part of human nature for some people.
Next time I see some fog, I won't be too alarmed. I expect it will be OK.
