We just can't seem to stay away from the beautiful (and dangerous) state of Pennsylvania! Today we're visiting a town called Donora, where in October of 1848 the weather and the local zinc factory combined to create a blanket of yellow smog that lay over the town for five full days. Unfortunately for the citizens of Donora, this particular smog wasn't just smelly and impossible to drive in, but loaded with poisonous fluorine. 20 people died in the event, and an estimated 6,000 residents were injured before heavy rains were able to clear the air.
On this episode, we're talking about temperature inversions, Acts of God, the surface of Venus, a cornucopia of lawsuits, and why your fog should never be yellow and opaque.
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Sources for this episode include:
"1948 Donora Smog", Wikipedia, last updated 2022
"A Darkness in Donora", E Kiester Jr. for Smithsonian Magazine, 1999
"Museum Remembers Donora's Deadly 1948 Smog" D Hopey for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 2008
"When smoke ran like water: tales of environmental deception and the battle against pollution" D Davis, 2002
"The Deadly Donora Smog of 1948 Spurred Environmental Protection - But Have We Forgotten The Lesson?" L Boissoneault for Smithsonian Magazine, 2018
