Another smoky day across Minnesota Wednesday

Northern Minnesota sees a few more spots of needed rain

Smoke and haze stay prevalent in the skies over Minnesota Wednesday, but it also helps cool temperatures closer to seasonable highs.

Wednesday’s forecast

Although winds are now starting to shift and will start coming more from of the south on Wednesday, the previous flow from the north much of Monday and part of Tuesday funneled the smoke back in across the state, which will now take a couple of days to dissipate.
This means almost the entire state is still under an air quality alert for Wednesday, and smoke and haze will continue to be a problem. 

weather graphic
Air quality alert until 6 a.m. Thursday
National Weather Service

Morning temperatures are mostly in the 60s, and highs will be seasonable in the 70s north and 80s south.

weather graphic
Wednesday high temperatures
National Weather Service

Those are cooler highs than most of the state has seen recently in part because some slightly cooler air moved in when we had winds from the north, and also because there is so much haze blocking the sun it is limiting our afternoon heating. 

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It will stay muggy though, despite the slightly lower temperatures.

A weak boundary of lower pressure will once again trigger a few spotty showers and storms in the northern half of the state, especially in the afternoon and evening, producing isolated areas of beneficial rain. 

As haze starts to clear, temperatures bounce right back to hot and this time, Minnesota is headed into an extended heat wave.

That forecast will be updated around 9 a.m. 

Programming note

You can hear my live weather updates on Minnesota Public Radio at 7:48 a.m. Monday through Friday morning.