As I stood outside in my ‘back yard’ tonight, it amazed me how clear the air is in the UK compared to where we lived in Fort Worth.
I remember many a time watching the sunset from my back yard in Fort Worth to see the haze on the horizon from the smog. And the DFW metroplex was not as bad as some parts of the US. It became even worse during certain times of the year when the farmers in Mexico would burn their fields / or clear forests. The smoke would come up from 1000’s of miles south and a constant haze would cover the sky for days.
Even when we traveled to Oklahoma way out in the sticks, it was still no where as clear as what I can see in the UK.
Most of the pollution in the DFW was light pollution reflecting off any air pollution, and there probably isn’t the same level of light pollution where I live right now.
I’m lucky where I live now in that there aren’t many street lamps in the village so at night, its extremely dark. It’s that clear that you often see the satellites passing over head, probably over flying Aldermaston which is maybe 20 minutes north of us. Most of my experiences of DFW was positive apart from the damn storms and air pollution. I can’t remember a day in the UK ever where my kids could not play outside because the air quality index was so poor.
