Growing up and living in Minnesota, the stereotype of cold weather is always present. But Minnesota has surprisingly extreme weather in the summer as well as the infamous winters. Summers are incredibly hot, and more so in recent years, hazy. Wildfire smoke has been a consistent and lingering problem the past few years, impacting everyone in the cities to some degree. Each year seems to be getting worse, with climate change exacerbating wildfire seasons across the world. The effects on Canada's rate of wildfires, along with wind bringing smoke south, is what has impacted the north star state recently. This problem is only expected to get worse with time. This past summer, alerts lasted for days at a time, with Minnesota having the second worst air quality of any major city in the world one particular Friday in late July. The biggest health risk related to this is microscopic particulate matter. These particulates can be incredibly harmful to our respiratory systems, with special concerns for people with asthma or other respiratory difficulties.
During the warmer months, I bike as transportation almost exclusively. I have had to change these habits because of the risks present during air quality alerts. When spending time outdoors, my whole family will wear masks; even to walk our dog around the neighborhood. My grandma, who lives in northern Minnesota, is considered vulnerable due to her age, so she only leaves her house to get her mail when air quality alerts are active.
Thankfully, no one I know personally has suffered adverse health effects from these increased respiratory hazards, though I have seen firsthand the risks that this hazard poses, especially for vulnerable populations. The past several summers, I have worked as a lifeguard for the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board at Webber Pool (located in a historically redlined neighborhood). I worked outside during an air quality alert, and saw the impact: we dealt with increased first aid situations from patrons of the pool being unable to deal with heat and smog. Moments of respiratory distress and heatstroke have become more consistent as climate change has worsened, and this trend will likely continue. We as Minnesotans will need to come together and adapt to the higher frequency of this hazard.
Sources:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6743728/
https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/smoke-air-quality-alert-minneapolis-august-1-2025/
Photo Credit:
https://www.mprnews.org/story/2025/06/03/air-quality-alerts-minnesota-wildfire-smoke
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