5:00 PM: No wood smoke.
5:30 PM: No wood smoke. Partly cloudy and 84 degrees at this time as measured at North High School according to the Weatherbug widget on this blog. The TV news puts the temperature at 81 degrees. It is another beautiful late summer-early fall evening. It will surely be ruined by wood smoke.
With the weather forecast of no rain and high temperatures in the low 80s, I expect this weekend to be another miserable smoky hell just like every weekend has been all spring and summer long. You cannot escape wood smoke in North St. Paul, MN, not even in your own home. We are prisoners in our own homes because of the horrible polluted air in this town thanks to the four city council members.
With the weather so nice, I intend to spend some time outside this evening and tomorrow before the wood smoke starts. Our season for enjoying the outdoors will be over in a few weeks. Then it's snow and cold. We have two seasons in this town. Wood smoke season and winter. We could possibly have another season when fall starts. I call it leaf burning season. I am sure there will be some leaf burning Saturday and Sunday as people do yard work.
7:00 PM: No wood smoke.
8:00 PM: No wood smoke.
8:30 PM: No wood smoke. There is a very faint trace of something in the air. I can't say it is wood smoke. If it is, it is very diluted. 74 degrees at this time.
9:00 PM: No wood smoke. Very faint trace of something continues.
10:00 PM: No wood smoke yet. Where is it? Very faint trace of something continues.
11:00 PM: No wood smoke.
Midnight: No wood smoke.
I'll be darned. We made it an entire Friday evening with no wood smoke. It was a beautiful evening with no rain and a pleasant temperature perfect for recreational air pollution. But there was none. According to my records, the last Friday with no wood smoke and no rain to account for its absence was possibly May 1, 2009. I went to bed early that evening around 7 PM and did not check the air after that time. The government weather data shows the high temperature was 60 degrees that day with no precipitation. If there was any wood smoke that evening, it would most likely have been from a fireplace.
No wood smoke on a beautiful Friday evening. We have witnessed a miracle.