Misty days bringing dirty air warnings
The early morning mist in this Shropshire scene may look as pretty as a picture, but experts today warned it may possess hidden dangers.
Forecasters warned that people in many parts of England and Wales should be braced for "very high" levels of air pollution today.
Environment department Defra said high levels recorded in the Midlands yesterday would spread across Shropshire and Mid Wales. The settled conditions this week have led to mists and fog across the region, including in the Mortimer Forest, near Ludlow, where Shropshire Star reader Peter Evans captured this stunning image.
But scientists say the air we are breathing is filled with a mix of local and European emissions and dust from the Sahara.
Those with lung or heart disease were urged to avoid strenuous exercise outside.
Air pollution is the world's single biggest environmental health risk, according to the World Health Organisation.
It is linked to about seven million deaths a year, mostly from heart and lung diseases.
The causes are outdoor pollution from traffic and industry and indoor pollution from dirty stoves.
But dirty air is an invisible threat, and it's taken a wind from the Sahara to blow it into Shropshire and Mid Wales.
The wind lifts desert dust high into the clouds several times a year. The dust provides vital fertiliser for the ocean and even the Amazon forest.
But it also has the ability to fall over the UK, leaving dust on windows and cars and combining with high levels of local air pollution to irritate people's lungs.
The EU has launched legal proceedings against the UK for failing to reduce "excessive" levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) air pollution – mostly from traffic – after 15 years of warnings.
Defra has a 10-point scale for measuring air quality, with one meaning there is a "low" risk of air pollution and 10 warning of "very high" levels.
Levels hit the maximum of 10 in north-west Norfolk yesterday.
Readings for today were expected to reach eight or nine in much of Shropshire and Mid Wales, and possibly 10 along England's southern coast.
High levels of pollution are expected to continue across the Midlands tomorrow. But they are expected to drop by Friday.
