It's another evening of smoky air in North St. Paul.
10:15 AM: Very faint grass smoke coming in on the breeze. Somebody is in the distance is burning grass clippings. If it isn't wood that is burning in this town, it is yard waste.
4:45 PM: No smoke. 85 degrees.
5:00 PM: No smoke.
6:45 PM: No smoke. 87 degrees, sunny, a nice summer evening.
8:05 PM: No smoke yet.
8:40 PM: Very faint wood smoke is in the air. It can be smelled just enough to detect its presence.
9:45 PM: Very faint wood smoke continues.
10:30 PM: Light wood smoke. Now it is getting stronger. If the windows were open, they would need to be closed. Do you want to breathe smoky air in your living room? Almost every day of your life?
11:15 PM: Light wood smoke continues. It is 75 degrees outside at this time. In a normal city where the city council doesn't torture its residents with polluted air, we would shut the air conditioning off and open the windows to allow the house to cool naturally overnight. But we can't do that because the air is so damn smoky!
Bonfires are supposed to be extinguished by 11 PM. So much for following the rules. Why should anyone bother? This city does not enforce them, anyway. What is worse? Smoky air after 11 PM or smoky air before 11 PM? Both options are undesirable and unacceptable! Smoky, polluted air is never acceptable!
Midnight: A very faint trace of wood smoke lingers in the air. The wood smoke reached the faint level again after midnight.
For a Saturday night this was pretty light. Wood smoke often gets really heavy on the weekend.