Minnesota skies expected to be clear of heavy smoke for next 7 days
A recently rare blue sky above the Weather Lab Tuesday evening.
Paul Huttner
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Audio transcript
NINA MOINI: Here in Minnesota, a statewide air quality alert has ended, but the northern part of the state is still being impacted by smoke from Canadian wildfires today. MPR News chief meteorologist Paul Huttner is here to check in about when we can really breathe a sigh of relief from all this poor air quality we've been seeing. Paul, how are you?
PAUL HUTTNER: Hey, I'm good, Nina. Good to hear you and talk to you again. And I'm breathing a sigh of relief, because guess what? The Pollution Control Agency just canceled that warning for northern Minnesota, that air quality alert.
NINA MOINI: Oh, that's great.
PAUL HUTTNER: That's great news. So I've got some great news. I'm looking at a great air quality map across Minnesota. That smoke has moved on and good to moderate air quality now across Minnesota and most of the upper Midwest. And I've got even better news because it's raining in those big Canadian wildfire zones today--
NINA MOINI: Oh, good.
PAUL HUTTNER: --and will for much of this week. They could get two to five inches of rain across many of those areas. That's going to really cause less smoke to come out of those fire zones. And I was just reading some of the discussions from the Pollution Control Agency. They're saying, likely, we won't see any heavy surface smoke in Minnesota for about the next seven days, so that's great news.
NINA MOINI: We'll take it.
PAUL HUTTNER: We're getting a little bit of our summer back.
NINA MOINI: Yeah. It's been tough because it has been-- you get maybe a day or two of a relief even here in the Twin Cities metro. How has this summer ranked so far for air quality? Because everyone's saying, this is one of the worst ones they remember.
PAUL HUTTNER: It is one of the worst ones. 2023, two years ago, was the worst one for Pollution Control Agency records. They had 22 air quality alerts, I think, that summer. We've had 20 so far, so we're right there. And we've had some really high smoke levels, and we had the longest air quality alert a week or so ago. So it's been a rough summer. Really happy to see that widespread rain in Canada. We might be breathing easier here for hopefully the next few weeks.
NINA MOINI: Oh, I hope so. But it's also been really humid this summer. How has that been shaping up?
PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah. We're near record levels. In fact, the eastern United States has seen the highest number of high dew point days on record this summer, days of dew points of 65 or higher. That's when it really starts to get sticky out there. So the steamy summer of '25 isn't just Minnesota, it's in the east. But here in Minnesota, we've seen the fifth highest average dew point for June and July. It averaged about 60 degrees. Rochester was 62.
But we've had multiple high dew point episodes, these times where it gets really swampy out there. The dew points get well into the 70s. That's tropical air. And we even set some records. 82, the dew point hit. That's near a Minnesota state record, which is 86. But Fergus Falls, St. James on July 27, and even here in the Twin Cities as recently as last Friday, we tied the daily dew point record on August 8 with the dew point of 76.
NINA MOINI: Yikes. So I know you're saying we're going to be breathing easier, at least for the next week or so. What are you expecting weather wise just through the weekend here?
PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah. We start with a beautiful summer day today across Minnesota. Dew points in the comfy 50s. We'll hit 82 in the Twin Cities. Lots of 70s. Then scattered thunderstorms Thursday into first part of Friday. We'll see those humidities ramp up again. Dew points are coming back into the 70s this weekend.
But Nina, I'm watching a pattern this weekend that's setting up a heavy rainfall pattern, potentially, for central Minnesota, including the Twin Cities, possibly, a warm front that will stall. And we get these nocturnal storms that can go at night. So Friday night, Saturday night, we could have some big, slow moving, heavy thunderstorms that dump a lot of rain.
Some of the models, European models, saying two to four or five inches of rain possible. I don't know precisely where that will happen yet. Could be near the Twin Cities. Could be north. Highs in the 80s this weekend.
NINA MOINI: All right. Let's skip ahead to next Thursday, already the State Fair. Everybody wants to know, Paul, what you're forecasting.
PAUL HUTTNER: I can't believe it's already here. That's incredible. A typical State Fair, we'll see a big range in temperatures. It's been as hot as 104 back in 1931. It's been as cool as the 60s. And typically, we see a few days in the 70s, a few days in the 80s, at least one 90 degree day usually.
And it rains on average about three or four days out of that 12 day run. The outlooks for next week look pretty normal-ish, so I think we'll see a lot of days in the 80s when we get going here. And I think a lot of people are going to have a lot of fun.
NINA MOINI: I hope so. Thanks so much, Paul.
PAUL HUTTNER: My pleasure. Thanks, Nina.
NINA MOINI: That was MPR News chief meteorologist Paul Huttner.
PAUL HUTTNER: Hey, I'm good, Nina. Good to hear you and talk to you again. And I'm breathing a sigh of relief, because guess what? The Pollution Control Agency just canceled that warning for northern Minnesota, that air quality alert.
NINA MOINI: Oh, that's great.
PAUL HUTTNER: That's great news. So I've got some great news. I'm looking at a great air quality map across Minnesota. That smoke has moved on and good to moderate air quality now across Minnesota and most of the upper Midwest. And I've got even better news because it's raining in those big Canadian wildfire zones today--
NINA MOINI: Oh, good.
PAUL HUTTNER: --and will for much of this week. They could get two to five inches of rain across many of those areas. That's going to really cause less smoke to come out of those fire zones. And I was just reading some of the discussions from the Pollution Control Agency. They're saying, likely, we won't see any heavy surface smoke in Minnesota for about the next seven days, so that's great news.
NINA MOINI: We'll take it.
PAUL HUTTNER: We're getting a little bit of our summer back.
NINA MOINI: Yeah. It's been tough because it has been-- you get maybe a day or two of a relief even here in the Twin Cities metro. How has this summer ranked so far for air quality? Because everyone's saying, this is one of the worst ones they remember.
PAUL HUTTNER: It is one of the worst ones. 2023, two years ago, was the worst one for Pollution Control Agency records. They had 22 air quality alerts, I think, that summer. We've had 20 so far, so we're right there. And we've had some really high smoke levels, and we had the longest air quality alert a week or so ago. So it's been a rough summer. Really happy to see that widespread rain in Canada. We might be breathing easier here for hopefully the next few weeks.
NINA MOINI: Oh, I hope so. But it's also been really humid this summer. How has that been shaping up?
PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah. We're near record levels. In fact, the eastern United States has seen the highest number of high dew point days on record this summer, days of dew points of 65 or higher. That's when it really starts to get sticky out there. So the steamy summer of '25 isn't just Minnesota, it's in the east. But here in Minnesota, we've seen the fifth highest average dew point for June and July. It averaged about 60 degrees. Rochester was 62.
But we've had multiple high dew point episodes, these times where it gets really swampy out there. The dew points get well into the 70s. That's tropical air. And we even set some records. 82, the dew point hit. That's near a Minnesota state record, which is 86. But Fergus Falls, St. James on July 27, and even here in the Twin Cities as recently as last Friday, we tied the daily dew point record on August 8 with the dew point of 76.
NINA MOINI: Yikes. So I know you're saying we're going to be breathing easier, at least for the next week or so. What are you expecting weather wise just through the weekend here?
PAUL HUTTNER: Yeah. We start with a beautiful summer day today across Minnesota. Dew points in the comfy 50s. We'll hit 82 in the Twin Cities. Lots of 70s. Then scattered thunderstorms Thursday into first part of Friday. We'll see those humidities ramp up again. Dew points are coming back into the 70s this weekend.
But Nina, I'm watching a pattern this weekend that's setting up a heavy rainfall pattern, potentially, for central Minnesota, including the Twin Cities, possibly, a warm front that will stall. And we get these nocturnal storms that can go at night. So Friday night, Saturday night, we could have some big, slow moving, heavy thunderstorms that dump a lot of rain.
Some of the models, European models, saying two to four or five inches of rain possible. I don't know precisely where that will happen yet. Could be near the Twin Cities. Could be north. Highs in the 80s this weekend.
NINA MOINI: All right. Let's skip ahead to next Thursday, already the State Fair. Everybody wants to know, Paul, what you're forecasting.
PAUL HUTTNER: I can't believe it's already here. That's incredible. A typical State Fair, we'll see a big range in temperatures. It's been as hot as 104 back in 1931. It's been as cool as the 60s. And typically, we see a few days in the 70s, a few days in the 80s, at least one 90 degree day usually.
And it rains on average about three or four days out of that 12 day run. The outlooks for next week look pretty normal-ish, so I think we'll see a lot of days in the 80s when we get going here. And I think a lot of people are going to have a lot of fun.
NINA MOINI: I hope so. Thanks so much, Paul.
PAUL HUTTNER: My pleasure. Thanks, Nina.
NINA MOINI: That was MPR News chief meteorologist Paul Huttner.
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