Found in our inbox today: Hi, I have been in Wuhan for the last 2 weeks. Over the past 3 days there has been a MASSIVE amount of pollution here, and seems to be getting worse each hour. Visibility is literally 500m, and I’m pretty sure it’s not fog because it leaves a brown-black residue, smells distinctly ‘dirty’ with a tinge of burning plastic, and everyone seems to be complaining of sore throats, eyes, noses, and generally feeling “shitty”. According to the local TV station, “it is probably a heavy fog” but to cast a wider net they also said that “if it is pollution” then “it is definitely caused by not enough rain and wind”. Earlier TV reports, which were repeated to me by my Chinese ~friends~ who said it with such belief and conviction I burst out laughing, said that it was from the October 1st fireworks and the smoke “took a while to come back down” (about 4 days). Cheers, Gaz.

Thanks for the tip Gaz. And good luck with that!