12:25 AM: Moderately strong wood smoke continues. The air outside is very smoky. This will be another night we have to go to bed with the windows closed because the air is so polluted. Truth be told, we have to go to bed every night with the windows closed. Late night burning happens often in this town. It is very common for wood smoke to start in the early evening and continue until 3 or 4 AM, sometimes later. You never know who will start a bonfire at 1 AM. There is nothing worse than waking up at 1 AM choking on smoky air in the middle of the work week. Once the wood smoke gets inside the house, there is no getting rid of it. You are stuck breathing smoky, polluted air inside the house all night long. The wood smoke gets into your clothes, bedding, and any other fabric making the odor linger for a long time.
6:00 AM: Fresh air! Thank God! We can finally open the windows and enjoy the cool, unpolluted air. Maybe we will get 12 more hours of uninterrupted fresh air today with the exception of grass burners.
2:10 PM: A few drops of rain just fell. The sky is mostly cloudy. The weather forecast calls for a chance of spotty rain showers. Let's hope it rains so we can get some relief from this terrible wood smoke pollution in North St. Paul. After the heavy wood smoke of the past two nights, we could use a break. 76 degrees.
2:18 PM: Faint grass smoke. Right after I published the first draft of this post grass smoke started coming in the window. It did not last more than a few minutes. Somebody is always burning something in this town.
7:00 PM: No wood smoke yet. It is an absolutely gorgeous evening likely to be ruined by wood smoke. Last Sunday, there was no real wood smoke in the air other than a little grass or wood smoke around 7 PM. We were lucky then. It rained a little and there was some thunder. Sundays tend to be one of the smokiest days of the week. We are going to sit outside for a while and enjoy the evening. It rained earlier around 3:30 PM. The clouds cleared out before 5 PM. Cool and sunny at this time, 70 degrees.
8:30 PM: No wood smoke.
9:00 PM: A very faint wood smoke is coming in on the breeze out of the east. It did not last long.
10:00 PM: Still no wood smoke.
11:00 PM: No wood smoke.
Midnight: No wood smoke.
We made it an entire evening without wood smoke pollution! We had a little grass smoke earlier in the afternoon and a trace of wood smoke around 9 PM which did not last more than a few minutes. After the prior two smoky nights, we deserve this breathable air. You will not realize the importance of fresh, unpolluted air until you spend some time in North St. Paul.