Canadian wildfire smoke moving back into Minnesota this week

Smoke is expected to return to Northern Minnesota on Monday evening, July 28, impacting air quality the rest of the week.

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency issued an air quality alert for all of Northern Minnesota on Monday that begins at 6 a.m. Tuesday.

On Tuesday, the MPCA updated its alert, extending the alert to Saturday. With the upgrade, the MPCA says it ties the longest air quality alert in the state with the St. Louis County Greenwood fire in 2021.

Northerly winds will continue transporting waves of heavy surface smoke from wildfires across Manitoba and Saskatchewan into Minnesota. The agency says smoke will move south across all of Minnesota and linger through Saturday afternoon. The smoke will be reinforced by an area of high pressure that will create light winds and limit the dispersion of smoke.

"The air quality alert has been expanded to include all of Minnesota and extended until Saturday afternoon when the air quality is forecasted to improve," stated the release.

Air quality is expected to reach the Red, or Unhealthy, category for the northern third of the state and Orange, or Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups, category for the central third of the state.

Populations most at risk of health problems related to air pollution:

• people with lung diseases, such as asthma, chronic bronchitis, emphysema, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
• infants and young children
• people who work or exercise outdoors
• adults over 65
• people with a cardiovascular disease
• people in poverty; people who lack access to health care
• people who smoke or are exposed to second-hand smoke
• people working in occupations where there is high exposure to contaminated air
• people who spend a lot of time near busy roadways

This story was updated on July 29, 2025, to reflect an updated air quality alert from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.