Frigid temperatures this weekend prompt cold weather advisories

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Get ready for the first smoke event of 2024, Minnesota. A plume of wildfire smoke from the massive Texas wildfires is likely to drift northeast over Minnesota on Thursday.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s High-Resolution Rapid Refresh near-surface smoke loop (see the map above) forecasts the plume to race northeast into Minnesota on strong southwesterly winds Thursday. 

The blazes in Texas have scorched more than 500,000 acres.

Reports indicate hundreds of homes may have burned in small towns in the Texas Panhandle region. 

Air quality forecasts for Minnesota so far suggest most of the smoke will be aloft on Thursday. The latest 

 for Thursday is green, indicating good air quality statewide.

I reached out to Matt Tarldsen who is an air quality meteorologist with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. I asked him about the inbound smoke plume. For now, there are still leaning toward a green air quality forecast for Thursday. But that could change depending on the intensity of the smoke plume as it approaches Minnesota. 

It remains to be seen if our persistent southerly flow over the next few days will bring more of the Texas wildfire smoke down to the surface here in Minnesota.

Weather and Climate News

Updraft® - Minnesota Weather News

Paul Huttner

Author

Get ready for the first smoke event of 2024, Minnesota. A plume of wildfire smoke from the massive Texas wildfires is likely to drift northeast over Minnesota on Thursday.


Texas wildfire smoke heading for Minnesota Thursday

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