Summer heat and hazy sunshine

Good afternoon! Smoke from wildfires out west continues to build into western Minnesota west to east. Poor air quality is especially a problem today into tomorrow across northwestern Minnesota. An Air Quality Alert is in place across northwestern Minnesota now until Thursday mid-morning.

Even if you’re not currently under the Air Quality Alert, you may notice hazy skies later this afternoon and evening. We could end up seeing a few additional counties added to the alert, so make sure you stay up to date with the forecast.

High temperatures today and tomorrow are warmer than earlier this week as we’re back into the mid-80s. Dry skies hold throughout the rest of the workweek, with scattered showers and storms possible overnight Friday into Saturday. Widespread rain and storms aren’t in the forecast.

Humidity levels remain comfortable until later this weekend, and by Sunday it’s muggy. Next week temperatures stubbornly hold in the mid to low-80s, and you’ll notice higher humidity than we’ve had this week.

Hurricane Francine makes landfall between late afternoon and early evening tonight along the Louisiana coastline, expected to retain its Category 1 strength (currently a strong Cat-1 hurricane). Heavy rainfall and flash flooding will be possible across the Louisiana boot and far eastern LA into the southern half of Mississippi where 4″ to 8″ of rainfall is expected.

Wren