Hazy skies clearing with possible return of smoke this weekend

NINA MOINI: Ah, well, our state has really been through it weather-wise this week. Many of us witnessed rain pouring through super smoky air. It was yucky, and it was bizarre.

So here to explain these wacky weather events and what's to come is Chief Meteorologist Paul Huttner. Thanks for being here, Paul.

PAUL HUTTNER: Oh, it's my pleasure, Nina. Never a dull moment, right, in Minnesota weather?

NINA MOINI: I know. You know, yesterday, I honestly felt like I was tasting it. Like I was tasting the smoke when I was even driving through the filter into my car. It was just so bizarre.

And so we set a record?

PAUL HUTTNER: We did. And good to see the blue sky today, that the air quality is back into the moderate and good range across Minnesota.

But this was a record wildfire smoke event for Minnesota. The Air Quality Index, which tracks those little particulates of smoke that blow in, hit 800 in Grand Portage Tuesday at 2:00 in the morning. I spoke with some meteorologists from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, and they gave me that number.

That number is the highest number ever recorded on their air quality monitors in Minnesota since they started keeping records in 2000. So, worst wildfire smoke event.

They've had some higher readings for other events, but this is the highest from wildfire smoke.

And it breaks the previous Minnesota record for wildfire smoke of 692. That happened in Saint Cloud, in July of 2021. So here in the Twin Cities, we topped out around 274 for Air Quality Index yesterday in Blaine, and really close at a bunch of other locations.

Still not a record in the Twin Cities. Believe it or not, we had 555 in 2016.

And interesting to note that the highest Air Quality Index readings actually occurred during the pandemic. 2020, the fireworks in Minneapolis. There were light winds and stagnant air, and it all just sort of accumulated right here.

NINA MOINI: Wow.

PAUL HUTTNER: But yeah, the big news is this was the worst event ever.

Emily mentioned those fires. There's over 120 active fires in Canada. They've already burned over 5 million acres, so that's still ongoing.

They're going to get a little bit of rain in some of those fire zones, but this is going to be an ongoing occurrence, I think, Nina. This summer, we'll have more smoke events.

The air quality looks good to moderate, probably right through Saturday. And then we're watching for another potential smoke front on Sunday, unfortunately.

NINA MOINI: That is unfortunate, but we also had that rainfall that was sort of sneaking through. How much rain did we get?

PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah, a good soaking for central and southern Minnesota. We had about 6/10 of an inch in Alexandria, a little less in Saint Cloud.

You come down to the Twin Cities and southern Minnesota, an inch around the Twin Cities, in Rochester, and then heavier rain west of the Twin Cities, especially out along Highway 212, Highway 12.

Spicer, Wilmer, Worthington, Bird Island had about 1.2 to 1.5 inches. And then around Sleepy Eye and New Ulm, that was the heavy spot, about 2 inches of rain.

NINA MOINI: Wow. So, what are you forecasting for the rest of the week and weekend?

PAUL HUTTNER: A breather. We can breathe deeply once again, thankfully.

Look, we've got some sunshine out there today. We'll hit 78 in the Twin Cities. 70s across most of Minnesota today.

And then another rain system comes in tomorrow night into Friday. So tomorrow starts nice. I think we're in the 70s once again. Rain moves in tomorrow evening, tomorrow night into Friday morning. So the timing might be kind of good on this. And then back to partly cloudy Friday afternoon.

Saturday looks to start sunny again, and then another chance of a shower or thunderstorm Saturday night into Sunday early. And then we'll have to watch to see how much smoke comes in with that next cool front coming in on Sunday.

NINA MOINI: All right.

And Paul, something that impacts the way that the people get their weather and are able to what's going on is the National Weather Service. And we've heard some news that they're going to be rehiring some of the staff that was laid off earlier this year. What are you hearing about that?

PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah. Of course, National Weather Service is a lifeline for severe weather watches and warnings around the country.

Those DOGE cuts cut 560 employees from NWS, and now, they're rehiring about 125 meteorologists. This is according to Andrew Friedman over at CNN, who we've had on Climate Cast many times.

Now, some of the offices, because of these cuts, aren't operating 24/7 now, so there are gaps at night. We had those tornadoes in Kentucky a few weeks ago, and that was a concern for a lot of people.

NINA MOINI: Yeah.

PAUL HUTTNER: And they need radar technicians and equipment techs, because that equipment needs to be maintained, so that's some of the people they're hiring.

I think a lot of people will find there's not much waste at the National Weather Service, and maybe they haven't hired enough people back, but at least, it's some progress. So, happy to see that story coming out in the last couple of days.

NINA MOINI: Yeah. And Paul, I can't let you go without asking what's on Climate Cast this week?

PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah. So in this world where we're watching wildfires increase three times since 1970 because of a warmer planet, we reached a milestone last year, globally, of 1.5 degrees Celsius warmer than the pre-industrial climate on Earth.

And so what does that mean for us going forward? We've had the 11 warmest years are the last 11 years, which is just unprecedented. We'll talk about that tomorrow on Climate Cast, kind of a check of where we are. Take the temperature of the planet, if you will, Nina.

NINA MOINI: Tomorrow on All Things Considered. Thank you, Paul.

PAUL HUTTNER: My pleasure. Thanks, Nina.

NINA MOINI: That was MPR News Chief Meteorologist Paul Huttner.