Winds spread ‘Euro-whiff’ across UK

People across the UK were left sniffing the air in disgust on Friday after strong easterly winds spread unpleasant farming or industrial smells from the continent.


The Met Office said it had received reports of the pong – dubbed Euro-whiff – from a wide area across south east England stretching from East Anglia to Dorset, and from the south coast up to Norfolk.

Experts said the odour was believed to be from manure being used on agricultural land on the continent, perhaps mixed with industrial aromas from the Ruhr region in north west Germany.

Weather conditions on the continent in the days preceding the Euro-whiff invasion had been very stagnant, allowing the stench to build up, before strong winds brought it to England’s shores.

A Met Office spokesman told edie: “We are fairly certain it was manure from some agricultural processes but there may have been industrial smells from the Ruhr mixed in.

“When the weather situation changed and brought in a strong easterly wind, we were in the firing line, effectively, and because of the strength of the wind, it kept the smell close to the ground.”

Britain’s winds are usually from a westerly direction, bringing in air from over the Atlantic.

Hundreds of people phoned the Met Office reporting sulphur-like and manure smells on Friday, before the continuing winds, coupled with rain in some areas, dispersed the nasty niff.

The BBC also received reports of the reek reaching as far afield as Durham and Liverpool in the north, Plymouth in Devon, and Pembrey and Cardiff in Wales.

Kate Martin

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