The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency issued an air quality red alert — considered unhealthy for all — until noon Monday as wildfire smoke from Canada wafts into the state.
Canadian wildfire smoke lingers in Minnesota
Air quality across the state will be at unsafe levels into Monday morning as the first statewide red alert of 2024 is issued.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
May 12, 2024 at 6:49PM
The alert is the first issued statewide in the 2024 season, following a record number of alerts — 21 across Minnesota — issued in 2023. The smoke will follow a cold front coming in from north to south, sticking around overnight, the MPCA said in a social media post Sunday. The agency was urging Minnesotans to keep their windows shut overnight Sunday.
At red alert levels, everyone should limit long periods of exertion outside. Sensitive groups, including children, older adults and those with respiratory concerns, should avoid prolonged exertion.
The red alert will expire at 8 a.m. Monday for northern Minnesota and noon Monday for southern Minnesota.
Last week, state officials announced that this summer likely will see more days than average with smoky air, but that the air quality is forecast to be better than last year.
“This was certainly not an outcome that we were hoping would materialize, and we know that today’s path forward does not provide a perfect solution,” interim OCM director Charlene Briner said Wednesday.
