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Our latest Canadian wildfire front produced choking smoke levels across much of Minnesota Tuesday morning:

Air quality readings for fine particulate matter from smoke (PM 2.5) in the Twin Cities peaked around 272 micrograms per cubic meter of air Tuesday morning. Here’s the data for the Minneapolis East Phillips neighborhood:

Tuesday's air quality index was comparable to the record set in July 2021. We’ll have to see where we land pending final data from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.

 Tuesday afternoon are not as bad as Tuesday morning but still unhealthy across most of eastern Minnesota.

Tuesday’s AQI numbers are not the worst ever recorded in Minnesota. 

In 2021, I wrote about the incredible AQI index of 422 in St Cloud

Our latest smoke event eases overnight into Wednesday. The front that brought our most concentrated smoke plume drifts east overnight. An air mass with much less smoke drifts our way Wednesday. 

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s High-Resolution Rapid Refresh smoke product shows the smoke plume moving out of the Twin Cities and eastern Minnesota by around midnight through the overnight hours into Wednesday. 

The forecast model loop below runs between 4 p.m. Tuesday and 6 a.m. Wednesday.

Expect sunnier skies, much less smoke, and pleasantly mild temperatures across Minnesota Wednesday!

Canadian wildfire smoke outlook for Minnesota

There are still hundreds of large blazes burning across central and western Canada. 

Forecast models bring some rainfall into the fire zones over the next 10 days. Some areas may receive 1 to 2 inches of rain in the next 10 days. That won’t extinguish all the fires, but it may suppress fire activity and smoke output in some areas.

Unless we see a transition to a much wetter weather pattern across Canada I expect we will see additional wildfire smoke episodes across Minnesota this summer.

Paul Huttner

Author

A smoke front from Canadian wildfires produced some of the worst air quality readings on record Tuesday morning. Air quality will improve overnight and Wednesday.

MPCA

Minnesota Pollution Control Agency

Air quality data for East Phillips in Minneapolis

smoke from Canadian wildfires lingers in the air

Record smoke front slams the Twin Cities and much of Minnesota

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