Unsettled Wednesday then cooler before heating up next week

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Minnesota’s degraded air quality is turning into a theme in the early part of this warm season. Our latest air quality alert is extended until 6 p.m Tuesday.

You can see from the map below that air quality Monday afternoon has reached the red (unhealthy) level across parts of eastern Minnesota and much of Wisconsin, meaning that some people 

“may experience health effects; members of sensitive groups may experience more serious health effects.”

There are now two different source regions of smoke from wildfires in Canada — one in western Canada and a second in eastern Canada. Either plume can push toward Minnesota depending on wind direction aloft. 

This current plume of wildfire smoke blew in from wildfires in the province of Quebec in eastern Canada. You can see the thick plumes of smoke across eastern Canada and the Great Lakes on Monday’s smoke map from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.  

Our easterly wind flow has pushed some of that smoke plume across Minnesota. The smoke layers are even thicker across Wisconsin and Illinois. 

Check out the satellite loop from the Chicago National Weather Service office:

And our stagnant warm air mass is producing ground-level ozone.

 from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency:

Weather and Climate News

Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Paul Huttner

Author

Wildfire smoke and ground-level ozone continue in Minnesota. Air quality Monday afternoon has reached the red (unhealthy) level across parts of eastern Minnesota and much of Wisconsin.

Air quality alert extended until 6 p.m. Tuesday

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