Sure glad I quit smoking. On the worst wildfire smoke days, Minnesotans are inhaling the rough equivalent of half a pack of cigarettes every day. I have friends who have gotten pretty sick, and they blame the smoke.
People with asthma, COPD or other respiratory challenges are feeling it. New research suggests that gases in wildfire smoke react with sunlight to worsen ozone pollution up to 1,000 miles downwind of major blazes.
Ozone in the stratosphere protects us from the sun’s harmful UV radiation, but at ground level ozone can cause shortness of breath, wheezing, coughing and respiratory complications. Almost makes me long for winter. Almost.
A stubborn frontal boundary separating relatively comfortable from “sauna-hot” sparks more thunderstorms Friday and Saturday. Sunday appears to be the nicer day of the weekend to be outside. Muggy 70-degree dew points give way to a slightly cooler, less humid pattern next week. Hold the smoke.
By the way, wildfires are burning earlier, bigger and longer. No idea what’s causing that.
