The weather forecast originally promised to bring rain this evening. It now looks like we will not get rain in the Twin Cities metropolitan area. That means another smoky hell of an evening in North St. Paul, Minnesota.
2:30 PM: No smoke of any kind yet. 78 degrees measured at North High School. This will be a nice evening to take a walk down by the beach at Silver Lake.
5:15 PM: Light wood smoke. I smelled wood smoke as we were eating Sunday dinner. One bedroom on the opposite side of the house completely reeked of wood smoke. The other rooms did not get as much smoke in them. Close the windows. The wood smoke could not have lasted more than a few minutes, just long enough to make one room smell like a forest fire. 73 degrees, sunny, and beautiful except for the wood smoke.
8:10 PM: Light to moderate wood and some other type of smoke. It smells horrible! Logs are not being burned. Waste is being disposed of. The smoke can best be described as the smell of a burning house when the roof is on fire. Somebody is disposing of waste and the whole neighborhood has to breathe it. I do not see anyone nearby burning. It could be someone blocks away. Close all the windows again!
8:23 PM: Strong wood and waste smoke. The intensity of the smoke has increased. The air is filled with the toxic fumes of whatever is being burned.
8:45: The smoke is almost gone. Only a very faint trace of it lingers. Will there be more waste burning tonight?
9:00 PM: No smoke. The air is clear.
10:00 PM: No smoke. Off to bed.
Midnight: I woke up and checked the air outside. The air was fresh and clear and I could smell a hint of blossoms. I opened a couple of windows and went back to bed. The air was fresh at 5 AM.
If it isn't raining or too cold, somebody is always burning something in North St. Paul. It is a nightmare!