The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has expanded the Air Quality Alert to now include nearly all of the state. That is including the Twin Cities metro area.
The alert runs through 11:00 a.m. on Friday. This is due to wildfire smoke in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in northeastern Minnesota, plus various fires in Ontario's Quetico National Park.
Fine particle levels are expected to hit a level considered very unhealthy in the Twin Cities area and it's even worth up north where conditions will be hazardous.
University of Minnesota Duluth associate professor Sarah Locker says if possible, stay indoors, especially if you are sensitive or have a pre-existing condition.
"The vasculature, the blood vessels of your body, those distribute to every organ system and stressing out those blood vessels can lead to things like stroke or even long term other inflammatory diseases," says Locker, highlighting how dangerous breathing the smoky air can be.
The smoke is expected to move south and arrive closer to the Twin Cities on Wednesday.
High temperatures, well into the 90s, along with high winds and wildfires have even forced evacuations and a closure of the BWCA.
"So we're really watching the winds," St. Louis County Sheriff Gordon Ramsey says. "We want to make sure these winds do not blow these fires to populated areas.
Sheriff Ramsey says all the smoke is also creating problems across the arrowhead region.
"They're predicting this afternoon the smoke is going to become a major problem in parts of the region, due to all these fires," Ramsey adds. "And people that are in poor health, have breathing issues, really should be considering that and do everything they can to avoid that this air that's coming our way."
Forecasters say that heavy smoke will move south on Wednesday, adding the onset will be rapid across large portions of the state.
The new Air Quality Alert expands it through large portions of Minnesota by Wednesday.
(Minnesota Pollution Control Agency)
Minnesota Governor Tim Walz is planning to travel to the area on Wednesday to assess the increasingly poor situation as blown down areas of the wilderness have become a tinder box.
"I think we all know it's particularly hot," Walz notes. "It's particularly dry. There's still a lot of blowdown material up in the Boundary Waters areas. I went from my briefing on Friday night of five fires in the Boundary Waters to Saturday morning there's 12. And that will continue, too."
Walz has called in the National Guard to assist the several agencies working to contain the fires. Currently, the BWCA is closed to all visitors through at least Friday.
In addition to fires in Minnesota, there are a number of them on the Canadian side of the BWCA which is even more remote that it is in Minnesota, making it much more difficult to contain fires.
For residents, the danger continues to grow as well. The Cook County Sheriff’s Office is advising residents and visitors to prepare to leave their home and property at a moment’s notice. There are also some evacuation orders in parts of Lake County, and St. Louis County.
There is also a Red Flag Warning until 9:00 p.m. Tuesday because of dry, windy conditions, making the potential spread of the fires more likely.
The Camp Fire, north of Ely, was most recently reported at 2,127 acres. The FOR028 Fire, burning just across the Canadian border on Ottertrack Lake, was reported at 1,976 acres.
AIR QUALITY ALERT
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) has issued an air quality alert for east central, central, west central, southeast, north central, northwest, and northeast Minnesota. The alert takes effect 9 a.m. on Tuesday, July 14, and runs until 11 a.m. on Friday, July 17. The affected area includes the Twin Cities metro area, Brainerd, Alexandria, Hinckley, St. Cloud, Winona, Moorhead, International Falls, Two Harbors, Hibbing, Ely, Duluth, and the Tribal Nations of Mille Lacs, Prairie Island, Leech Lake, White Earth, Red Lake, Grand Portage, and Fond du Lac.
* WHERE...Northeast Minnesota, expanding to other parts of Minnesota by Wednesday.
* WHEN...Until 11 AM CDT Friday.
* IMPACTS...Everyone is more likely to be affected.
* ADDITIONAL DETAILS...Very heavy smoke is expected across the Arrowhead today, as large wildfires continue to spread. Hot temperatures, when combined with the air pollution, will exacerbate health impacts. A frontal boundary will then spread heavy smoke further south this evening into Wednesday morning, as it moves across northern and central Minnesota. The onset of smoke will be rapid. This boundary eventually passes through the Twin Cities and into southeastern Minnesota on Wednesday or Wednesday evening, bringing heavy smoke even further south. Additional rounds of heavy smoke are possible from Thursday through Friday morning across the alert area.
