Heaviest Canadian wildfire smoke plume drifting over the Twin Cities

The weather maps would normally indicate a bright blue sky over Minnesota Tuesday. But Canadian wildfires have dimmed the sun so much that it looks like a cloudy day overhead.

I took this photo of the obscured sun outside the Weather Lab Tuesday afternoon.

The thickest part of the smoke plume from numerous Canadian wildfires is passing over Minnesota and the Twin Cities Tuesday afternoon. You can see the unsightly smudge from space on from NASA’s MODIS Terra image at the top of this post.

Check out the plume from arcing Manitoba through the western Great Lakes Tuesday afternoon from the Twin Cities National Weather Service office.

The smoke plume runs more than 2,000 miles. Here’s the map from federal airnow.gov website showing the plume running from western Canada all the way to the eastern United States and over the Atlantic Ocean Tuesday.

Air quality alert

The smoke is mostly aloft over southern Minnesota. Air quality has been in the good range across southern Minnesota, but fine particulates that we can breathe into our lungs have reached moderate levels in the north.

An air quality alert remains up until 4 p.m. Tuesday for the northern half of Minnesota. Here’s the forecast discussion for the next few days from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

An Air Quality Alert for fine particles due to wildfire smoke is in effect today until 4 p.m. for northern Minnesota. Fire activity has ramped up in the past week across western Canada. A band of smoke has been moving east across Canada for the past several days.

A cold front will dive south and move across the state today and will pull this smoke into Minnesota. Sinking air behind the front is expected to bring this smoke to the surface, creating poor air quality conditions. Smoke should arrive in the state by morning and move south, reaching Hinckley and Alexandria by afternoon. Air quality in the Orange (unhealthy for sensitive groups) AQI category is expected for much of northern Minnesota today. The smoke will begin to move west in the afternoon and should clear out of northeastern MN. Smoke is expected to linger across northwestern MN through the end of the day.

Winds will become southerly tomorrow and elevated smoke may mix to the surface, causing smoke to linger through the day. Air quality should be in the Yellow (moderate) category statewide tomorrow. Another wave of heavy smoke is possible for northwestern MN again Thursday. Another AQA may be needed for Thursday.

Air quality is forecast to be moderate statewide Wednesday. By Thursday another cold front will drop south, and that may mix down more smoke to ground level, especially in northwestern Minnesota.

Stay tuned.