Slough-Windsor-Datchet-Heathrow-Southall hazes of the 1980s

NO_x

NO_x gases are usually produced from the reaction among nitrogen and oxygen during combustion of fuels, such as hydrocarbons, in air; especially at high temperatures, such as occur in car engines. In areas of high motor vehicle traffic, such as in large cities, the nitrogen oxides emitted can be a significant source of air pollution. Small amounts of NO_x gases are also produced naturally by lightning. Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particulates (PM10 and PM2.5) are another major road related haze issue. Road transport is the biggest source of both of these.

The event

Slough-Windsor-Datchet-Heathrow-Southall hazes of the 1980s was a unpleasant, but minor air pollution incident in the adjacent parts of Surrey, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hounslow LB and Hillingdon LB. It was photogenic haze (a mild form of smog) that occurred on a few days during the mid to late 1980s due to some perticly hot and still summer weather, which allowed London's drifting car fumes (including a lot of NO_x and diesel particulates), local high car fumes and local factory fume levels to mix in to a mildly toxic ground level 'haze' cloud. No known deaths were recorded.

Also see

1. Photogenic smog
2. The Great London Smog of 1952
3. Central London hazes of the 1990s and 2010s
4. Birmingham and Sandwell Borough hazes of the 1970s and 2000s
5. Cobham, Woking, Weybridge, Guildford and Borough of Guildford hazes of the 1980s

Sources

1. UK tabloid press in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
2. http://www.coldwarhistoryque.com./airchoke.
3. https://books.google.at/books?id=kdfx5_sC1G4C&lpg=PA755&pg=PA755#v=onepage&q&f=false
4. https://www.blueair.com/gb/campaign/london?utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Generic%20%7C%20Generic%20%7C%20Health%20%7C%20GEO%20%7C%20London%20%7C%20BMM&utm_term=london%20air%20pollution&utm_content=London
5. http://www.londonair.org.uk/LondonAir/Default.aspx
6. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2017/01/24/air-pollution-london-passes-levels-beijingand-wood-burners-making/
7. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NOx
8. https://books.google.at/books?id=1zykqE-UN2QC&lpg=PA446&ots=D416NFxjvg&pg=PA445#v=onepage&q&f=false
9. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378382015301429
10. https://books.google.at/books?id=kdfx5_sC1G4C&lpg=PA755&pg=PA755#v=onepage&q&f=false
11. http://mygreenairlogg.blogspot.com/2008/01/smokyskys.html