Minnesota faces longest air quality alert in state history with wildfires raging across Canada
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As result of severe wildfires in Canada, Minnesota is facing the longest air quality alert on record since the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency began issuing alerts in 2008.
The previous record, set in 2021, was five days. The current alert is expected to last seven days. It will remain in effect through Monday, Aug. 4, at noon.
The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources has suspended all burning permits during the alert, and officials are urging people to avoid campfires to help reduce additional air pollutants.
Meteorologist Ryan Lueck with the MPCA said the prolonged alert is due to heavy wildfire smoke from Canada. A strong high-pressure system combined with persistent northwest winds has trapped the smoke over the region.
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“Just the widespread nature of the smoke and how heavy it is, that's kind of what's making this difference and why it's taking so long for it to clear out,” Lueck said.
On Saturday, the state saw air quality levels range from unhealthy for sensitive groups to unhealthy for everyone.
But on Sunday morning, the AQI index throughout the state had begun to improve, with regions in the west and south west being in orange levels, which is unhealthy for sensitive groups, and a large swath of the state being in yellow or moderate levels.
Still getting outside, but tasting the smoke
Despite the poor air quality, many people still ventured outside.
Dave Sukharan, 30, played volleyball with friends at Lexington Park in Roseville on Saturday morning. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, but still struggled with the weather conditions.
"I have asthma, so every time I step outside, I instantly feel it. It’s kind of like breathing a little underwater,” Sukharan said. “The air feels thick, and so I’m out here trying exercise and be healthy, and it just makes it harder.”
A few miles away in Roseville’s Central Park, Eric Mayer, 68, was practicing his tennis serve.
“I feel a little scratch in my throat,” Meyer said. He added if he “exerts really hard” he feels he can’t breathe as deep.
In the same park, others were seen wearing masks. Marlys Fox, 64, of Columbia Heights was one of them.
Fox said over the past few days she avoided going outside. But on Saturday, she spent most of her morning walking around Bennett Lake.
“You feel it in your throat. You feel it in your lungs, but you need to get outside, so I wear a mask … but I’m still going around this lake here and still have a sore throat.”
Nearly unprecedented wildfire in Canada
Across the border, Canada is experiencing its second most severe fire season on record, with wildfires burning more than 16 million acres across the country, according to the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center.
There have been nearly 4,000 wildfires in Canada this year, with most in central prairie provinces like Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Over 700 wildfires remain active as of Saturday morning.
At least two civilians are dead and several Canadian communities have been evacuated as result, according to Alexandria Jones, acting communications manager for the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Center.
“We're at a national preparedness level five, which is the highest of levels,” Jones said. “That means that there's significant fire activity across the country and that all of our Canadian firefighting resources are already engaged in the response, and so we've called upon our international partners to assist the country-wide effort.”
Jones said many fires are in remote, hard-to-access areas of Canada and officials are prioritizing fighting fires near people.
Over 1,300 firefighters from across the world are supporting local efforts, including more than 600 from the United States, according to Jones.
“We recognize that the smoke conditions are impacting not just Canadians, but Americans as well, and we're super appreciative of these bonds that we have with our international partners,” she said.
Jones explained the fires are primarily due to weather: drought conditions combined with heat, wind and lightning in thunderstorms.
Canada’s record fire season was 2023. Wildfires then burned close to 32 million acres.
The weekend forecast
The MPCA reports concentrations should gradually decline as winds shift and push smoke north, but with smoke spreading as far south as Tennessee and Missouri, clearing could be slow.
“Typically, we would have southerly winds and that would clear out the smoke within a day or so,” Lueck said. “We are getting southerly winds in this case, but the smoke is so far south that it's taking a while for that clearing process to take place.”
Orange Air Quality Index levels, indicating unhealthy conditions for sensitive groups, may persist into Sunday and Monday.
Air quality alerts are also in effect in Iowa, Wisconsin and Michigan, as well as eastern Nebraska and parts of Indiana and Illinois.
Lueck said gradual improvement is expected over the coming days.
