This isn't the first time we've written this story. But a step outside this morning brought a wrinkle to the nose.
No, the neighbor's dog didn't leave you a treat. Some WCCO staff mentioned it being in the air in Mound, and also in Roseville.
It's manure.
As some farmers prep their fields for winter, October and November are times where manure spreading is done to add nutrients to the soil for spring planting.
Get the right weather conditions, and those smells come pouring off the fields to our south and west, and we get it full force across the metro area.
“The smell itself is likely a product of agriculture, especially to our south,” National Weather Service Twin Cities meteorologist Tyler Hasenstein said. “We have some decently breezy south to southwesterly winds today. That alongside the tremendously dry conditions we’ve had is kicking up a lot of dust, a lot of sediment from agricultural areas outside of the metro and basically bringing all of that into our atmosphere.”
Hasenstein said it’s “possible” the dust and sediment is contributing to the hazy conditions. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency downgraded most of the southern part of the state’s air quality Friday to “moderate.”
“The dry conditions and breezy conditions as well, there’s probably quite a bit of dust that’s being picked up,” he said. “There might be a little bit of smoke filtering in from the western wildfires but the combination of the two is likely the cause of the hazy sky.”
There was a particular episode of this back in November of 2017 you might remember.
In 2017, the Twin Cities branch of the National Weather Service said the smell is a result of strong southwest winds combined with dry conditions that allowed for the manure smell to spread.
Guess what we have in Minnesota right now? Dry conditions (extremely dry in the southwest) and winds exactly like they were in 2017 at 10-15 mph out of the southwest.
Temps today reaching the 80s will make it a beautiful day to get out for a walk, a bike ride, and to fire up the grill. Enjoy the weather- and the smell.