MN weather: Lingering Canada wildfire smoke prompts extended air quality alert

MN weather: Comfortable with hazy sunshine Tuesday

Tuesday will be mild with temperatures in the lower 80s, a touch breezy, and lingering smoky sunshine. FOX 9 meteorologist Jared Piepenburg has the full forecast.

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency extended an air quality alert for southeastern and northern Minnesota on Tuesday due to lingering ground-level smoke from the wildfires in Canada.

Extended air quality alert 

Air quality alert:

An air quality alert set to expire at 9 a.m. has been extended for southeastern Minnesota, including the Twin Cities metro, until 4 p.m. on Tuesday and in northern Minnesota until 11 p.m. on Wednesday. 

The alert was extended due to heavy ground-level smoke lingering across southeastern Minnesota, which will continue impacting the air quality, before the smoke clears the state at around 4 p.m., according to the MPCA.

Meanwhile, another band of ground-level smoke is expected to move into parts of northern Minnesota Tuesday morning. The smoke will likely stall and impact the northern third of Minnesota through Wednesday, though the MPCA says the latest round of smoke won’t be as heavy.

AQI forecast:

The air quality forecast in northern and southeastern Minnesota on Tuesday is orange, meaning it’s considered unhealthy for sensitive groups. The air quality across central and southern Minnesota should gradually improve from Tuesday through Thursday. 

The latest air quality conditions can be found here. 

MPCA air quality alert map as of Aug. 12, 2025. (Supplied)

Poor air quality 

Local perspective:

Minneapolis is experiencing some of the worst air quality in the world. 

As of Tuesday morning, Minneapolis has bounced around the top three spots for the worst air quality. According to IQ Air, of major cities, Minneapolis’ air quality ranked third as of 10 a.m. with an AQI of 120, meaning it’s unhealthy for sensitive groups.  

As of 10 a.m., the worst air quality in the world belonged to Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo, with an AQI of 144, followed by Jakarta, Indonesia, with an AQI of 132.