Smelly Exhausts That Taste Foul...

[CitroJim]

It's either me or the air is really funny this evening...

I've just been out for a 5 mile run and noticed far more than usual that vehicle exhausts, both petrol and diesel, really smell awful and not only do they smell dreadful but I could taste them too and the taste really was foul... I can still taste them now...

Diesels smelt strongly of paraffin.

It was not isolated vehicles either but all of them...

It was bad enough that I looked to run as far from the busy roads as I could...

Any explanations? I can often smell exhausts but never so bad as it was this evening... Weather was cold and clear with the sky clear enough to see the moon...

[Michel]

Cold weather causing all the moisture in the air to disappear, thus giving nothing to "absorb" the smell of the fumes I think. I get the same in winter. That, plus I'd imagine more vehicles are running cold and a bit rich..

[lexi]

If there is no wind, and you have cold and high pressure, then it is going to linger and the fumes may be denser. Diesels are deadly in those conditions I think. That is when my diesel smells worst under the carport if I am hanging around scraping ice.
Does the winter diesel not have a paraffin type smelly additive?