‘Unhealthy’ air quality expected in eastern Minnesota through Monday afternoon due to wildfire smoke

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If you’ve attended or played in a softball or baseball game this summer, you likely share something in common with a lot of Minnesotans. The intense heat, coupled with the high humidity, has led to delays and sweltering conditions for fans, players, and umpires alike. That comes at the end of July 2026, which will go down as the warmest month in American history. 

There are plenty of church leagues and beer leagues around the state, but one group that meets in the Midway neighborhood of St. Paul is a little different. They have team names like the Grand Slamphibians, Tree Huggers, and Straight A Sluggers. 

These aren’t just your average Joes. These players are almost all state government workers. Many of those folks work directly on climate issues at the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources and Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. 

So we ventured out to the Dunning Fields on the hottest evening of summer to talk to the experts while they were off the clock. 

People who work on environmental issues “like getting outside,” said Kenny Blumenfeld, senior climatologist in the DNR’s State Climatatology Office, as he warmed up his surgically repaired shoulder. 

When we talked about climate change in Minnesota along the third base line long enough, the opposing team’s players started hooting at us to get off the field. After all, this was serious business and there was softball to be played!

“We just don't cool off the way that we used to. So the frequencies of lows that are at or above 70 degrees, which is pretty high for Minnesota, and in the 75 degrees, and even those rare 80s, those have been kind of inching upwards,” he said.

“When it's warm, we just don't get the relief from nighttime cooling that we used to get. And we see that every season, and it affects us in the summer both by kind of raising the baseline for how cool we can get, and also then when we do get a heat wave, preventing us from cooling off the way that we often expect to,” Blumenfeld added.

In the other dugout, there’s Carl Stenoien, climate change research scientist with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency. He works on data for greenhouse gas emissions, lake and stream temperature, and loves talking climate. But even off the clock at a fun softball league, it’s sometimes hard to get your mind off such a demanding and heavy topic. 

“I'm in my mid-30s and it feels like the winters and summers of my of my childhood are just a memory now,” he said. “Like, the normals are not normal anymore.”

Fishing, hunting, playing sports — and snow sports, especially — are not what they used to be,’ said Stenoien, who grew up in central Minnesota “It really affects our culture and the things we love to do.”

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As evenings across Minnesota get hotter and more humid, we struggle to cool ourselves down. We’re losing out on quality sleep and battling the elements for outdoor sports. A special softball league is facing the heat while working on climate adaptation. 

On softball night, Minnesota climate experts feel the heat

4 Mar 1998: A general view of a baseball laying in a glove on the grass during an Arizona Diamondbacks spring training game against the Chicago Cubs at Hohkam Stadium in Mesa, Arizona. The Diamondbacks defeated the Cubs 9-8.

On softball night, Minnesota climate experts feel the heat

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