The British were warned that a cloud of sulphur dioxide would completely cover the United Kingdom within hours.
The Met Office confirmed that an SO2 cloud was triggered by massive seismic activity on the Reykjanes peninsula near Grindavik in Iceland on Thursday last week.
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It first hit Britain around 4am on Saturday, but Britons were warned that they were not yet out of the woods.
Meteorologists believe that the poisonous gas actually hit a small part of the Scottish Highlands around 2am this morning.
However, more will hover over the Midlands and move south until 6am Tuesday morning.
On Wednesday around 7pm the wind will finally pass the UK.
The gas has little impact on air quality at ground level and pollutant levels remain “low,” according to the Met Office.
Sulfur dioxide is mainly produced by the combustion of coal or petroleum, but is also released by volcanoes.
It can cause a range of symptoms, from a sore throat to burning eyes or flu-like symptoms, including a runny nose and cough.
In cases where someone comes into direct contact with the gas over a long period of time, it has been linked to lung diseases such as asthma and chronic bronchitis.
Those most at risk, such as young children and the elderly, are advised to pay particular attention to SO2 warnings.
A Met Office spokesman told The Sun yesterday: “A cloud of sulphur dioxide emanating from the volcano in Iceland is crossing the UK high in the atmosphere and will dissipate towards the south-east over the next few hours.”
“The impact of this sulphur dioxide was small because it is high in the atmosphere and has little impact on air quality near the ground. Low concentrations near the ground mean that air pollution remains low.
“Air pollution levels are currently low and are expected to remain so across the UK today.
“We continue to monitor all sulphur dioxide emissions from Iceland and current forecasts suggest there will be little impact on air pollution in the UK over the coming days.”
The Reykjanes peninsula has been hit by six volcanic eruptions since November last year.
On May 29, 2024, a state of emergency was declared after lava was thrown into the air from the Sundhnúkur crater row.
The eruption site was just a few kilometers northeast of Grindavik, a coastal town of 3,800 inhabitants that was evacuated.
Grindavik was already evacuated in November 2023 after a series of earthquakes that caused large cracks in the ground between the town and Sýlingarfell – a small mountain to the north.
Before the recent eruptions, the Svartsengi volcanic system north of Grindavik was inactive for about 780 years.
During the November eruption, Icelandic authorities declared a state of emergency after hundreds of small earthquakes struck the Reykjanes peninsula, Iceland’s most populous region.
Weather forecast update
By Morgan Johnson
With higher pressure moving in from Europe on Tuesday, better days seem to be ahead.
On Tuesday, southern parts of England can prepare for temperatures of up to 24 degrees as winds die down and drier weather sets in.
On Wednesday, temperatures in London will rise to 27°C, while temperatures of over 26°C are expected in surrounding areas.
Temperatures of up to 24 degrees Celsius are expected in the West Midlands, while temperatures in Northampton and Milton Keynes will be just 1 degree higher, the weather service says.
Unfortunately, the warmer temperatures will ease somewhat by Thursday, but in most areas temperatures will still remain below -6 degrees.
Met Office meteorologist Annie Shuttleworth said: “Next week looks much drier and more settled than this week.”
“From Tuesday, low pressure will be concentrated in the north and west of the United Kingdom.
“But a high pressure system from Scandinavia will bring warmer air throughout the week, bringing more settled weather to eastern and southern areas of the UK. This will most likely continue into the first week of September.”
“Any weather front coming from the northwest will encounter this high pressure area and stay where it is.”
“By Friday we are likely to see a slightly stronger dominance of high pressure across the UK.
“So that takes us into the late summer stage, which means we may see some warmer air rising from the south and east.
“This means that it looks set to get significantly warmer this week, so things will improve before summer is over.”
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