Air quality alert Tuesday and Wednesday; chance of midweek storms

Updated 11:55 a.m.

Smoke has returned to the skies, prompting air quality alerts across Minnesota. Temperatures will be warmer Tuesday with spotty thunderstorms to the north. Wednesday will bring a statewide chance of storms.

Smoky skies are back bringing poor air quality

An air quality alert is posted for northeastern, east-central and southern Minnesota through midnight Thursday. Tuesday’s forecast calls for air to be unhealthy for sensitive groups (orange) for much of northeastern and southern Minnesota.

Smoke has returned to the skies from eastern Canada, blowing in from the northeast ahead of an area of high pressure moving out of the region.

According to the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, we’re up to 23 air quality alerts this year which is a new record, beating the previous 21 set in 2021. The average number of air quality alerts is just two to three.

Check out the latest air quality conditions and forecasts from the MPCA:

Warmer with possible thunderstorms

Tuesday will be warmer with highs in the mid-80s south and near 80 north. Areas near Lake Superior will be cooler, in the 70s. 

Spotty showers and thunderstorms will develop Tuesday afternoon in northwestern Minnesota and spread into northeastern Minnesota later in the evening. That risk of shower and storms will spread statewide late Tuesday night into Wednesday.

There’s even a slight risk of severe storms for parts of southern Minnesota Wednesday.

While most of Minnesota will not see a widespread soaking, northeastern Minnesota looks to potentially receive the most rainfall where conditions are very dry.

Things look to be mainly dry and more stable heading into the weekend with the return of hotter weather by early next week.