Wood smoke returns. We had an amazing run of fresh air in the city of North St. Paul, MN, the past week-and-a-half. It is very rare for us to have so many evenings without wood smoke in this polluted nightmare of a town. On Sunday the 18th and Sunday the 25th, there was some faint wood smoke from grilling for an hour or so. Other than that, we have had fresh air every evening since the 18th. The run of fresh air has ended.
4:45 PM: Light wood smoke at this time. Close the windows. 69 degrees. It rained earlier today for a short while but is pretty nice now. I do not know where the smoke is coming from. It is too warm for a fireplace and a bit early for a bonfire. It could be from grilling food or maybe somebody burned some wood to burn grass on top of it, something that happens all the time in this city. The air is smoky again.
6:30 PM: No wood smoke at this time.
8:00 PM: No wood smoke.
8:15 PM: Faint wood smoke coming in the window from somewhere and a very faint smell of burning rubber or something is in the air. It did not last more than a few minutes before it was gone. Your next door neighbor could burn wood and if the wind blows away from you, you will never smell it. There is not much of a breeze at all, but it happened to be blowing in the right direction for this short while.
8:40 PM: Faint wood smoke. The air is smoky now. About 63 degrees at this time.
10:00 PM: Faint wood smoke continues. I went out and looked and found a bonfire a few houses down from one of our city council members. This household burns wood three or four times a week in the early part of the summer and has been doing so for two or three years now. There is not much of a breeze. What there is of a breeze seems to be blowing away from us. But we were not so lucky to escape the horrible stench of wood smoke completely and we are not that near them. Last check of the evening. When I woke up at 2 AM the air was fresh and clear.