UK Weather: Paris' Le Smog Comes To London Via Southern Winds

Londoners Warned As 'Le Smog' To Fill The Air
The Eiffel Tower, is barely seen through the smog from Paris
The Eiffel Tower, is barely seen through the smog from Paris
ASSOCIATED PRESS

Londoners could soon be breathing 'Le Smog', the dirty Paris air that the French government has gone to extreme measures to try to disperse.

Emissions from the French capital could be blown over by strong south-southeasterly winds predicted by the Met Office until Friday.

The Environmental Research Group at King’s College London told the Evening Standard that polluted air would “dip into Central France and travel over Paris before arriving in the South-East”, causing “widespread” pollution across London and Sussex.

A Met Office spokesman told the Huffington Post UK that "south-southeasterly winds will blow across the South on Wednesday, with wind coming up from Europe.

"On Thursday, wind will blow toward London from the south-west, but the west will see air travelling up from Europe from the south. On Friday, there will be more swirling patterns of wind."

In March, a senior advisor to Boris Johnson said that London "doesn't need" to use the pollution-tackling measures introduced in Paris, where authorities forced all cars with number plates ending in even numbers off the roads.

Around 700 police officers manned 60 checkpoints to check only cars ending in odd numbers were on the street, as the city's pollution particulates in the air exceeded safe levels for five straight days in Paris - at 180 microgrammes.

Matthew Pencharz, the Mayor’s Senior Adviser on Environment and Energy said Boris Johnson had "implemented ambitious daily pollution tackling measures so that the capital does not need to use emergency car restrictions".

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