Air quality alert issued for Twin Cities for Friday afternoon, evening
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Air quality in the Twin Cities may reach unhealthy levels on Friday afternoon and evening.
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has issued an air quality alert for the Twin Cities metro area from noon to 9 p.m. Friday.
Unlike many air quality alerts in Minnesota in recent years, Friday’s alert does not stem from wildfire smoke in the air. Instead, it’s due to ground-level ozone created by a combination of weather conditions.
“Mostly sunny skies, warm temperatures and low humidity will provide a favorable environment for two types of pollutants (volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides) to react with sunlight in the air to produce ground-level ozone,” the MPCA reported.
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Forecasters say air quality in the metro area may reach the orange category on Friday afternoon and evening — meaning unhealthy for sensitive groups. That includes people with asthma or other chronic breathing conditions, as well as children and the elderly.
“Unhealthy ozone can aggravate lung diseases like asthma, emphysema, and COPD. When the air quality is unhealthy, people with these conditions may experience symptoms like difficulty breathing deeply, shortness of breath, throat soreness, wheezing, coughing, or unusual fatigue,” the MPCA reported.
People in the Twin Cities — especially those in sensitive groups — may want to limit or postpone outdoor activities while the alert is in effect.
And MPCA air quality forecaster Ryan Lueck said when it comes to wearing masks — there’s an important distinction to note with ozone pollution.
“Ozone is a gas and wildfire smoke is a particle. Masks do a good job of filtering out particles, but they don’t do anything to filter out the gas,” Lueck said. “Wearing a mask on poor air quality days from ozone is not going to help at all. It actually may make it worse.”
The air quality should improve after sunset Friday. Lueck said air quality may be a little better over the weekend.
“The same types of conditions that are favorable for ozone development will generally be present through the weekend and even into next week, but there are some nuances that lower our confidence that we’re going to see the same level of impacts this weekend,” Lueck said. “We have a bit of a cold front that will work through, and that will help to clear out some of the pollutants from the Twin Cities area.”
Lueck said high ozone levels are not unusual at this time of year when there are hot, sunny and dry conditions. The MPCA offered tips on how people can help reduce the amount of pollutants in the air:
Reduce driving; carpool or use public transit when possible
If you need to fill your vehicle with gas or diesel, avoid filling up during the middle of the day
Avoid using gasoline-powered lawn and garden equipment until the alert has ended, or use battery or manual-powered equipment instead
Avoid backyard campfires
