5:00 PM: No smoke. It is a beautiful summer day. The Weatherbug widget on this blog reports the temperature at North High School at 88 degrees. KSTP reports the temperature in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area at 82 degrees. It feels closer to 82 degrees.
Will we have wood smoke tonight? Will another beautiful summer evening be ruined by wood smoke?
7:00 PM: No smoke.
8:00 PM: No smoke.
8:45 PM: A very faint trace of something is in the air. The air is obviously not fresh.
At sunset, I went out looking for bonfires. Since today was the day of the big "Silver Lake Splash" fundraiser, I made a special effort to go by the house of the woman who has been the community activist leading the charge to "save our beach" and who convinced the city not to close the beach at Silver Lake this summer due to budgetary constraints. And I found my one and and only bonfire of the evening on her neighbor's property, a very smoky bonfire.
It was smoky all over the northern part of the city tonight. From the time I was a block from home, I could smell wood smoke almost everywhere I went. Starting from north to south.
1) Faint wood smoke at Helen St. & Lydia Ave. all the way down Helen St. to Navajo Rd. It was very faintly to faintly smoky everywhere tonight.
2) Smoke in the backyard of the 2nd house from the corner of Poplar Ave. & Lake Blvd. on the north side of the street. I am not certain if the smoke was from a bonfire or fireworks. I hope it was from a bonfire because city council member Bob Bruton, who supports recreational wood burning, lives just a few houses away. Was your air smoky tonight, Bob? I hope so. If anyone deserves to breathe smoky, polluted air, it is our city council members who make us breathe that toxic poison.
3) Faint wood smoke at Navajo Rd. & Helen St.
4) A large cloud of smoke down on Hilltop Ct. I saw the cloud of smoke when I was on the other side of the hill but could not smell it. It took a while to get back around to Hilltop and when I did I could smell light wood smoke. I could not locate the source.
5) Moderate wood smoke at Park Row & 20th Ave. This is the second time I've found strong wood smoke over there this summer. I could not locate the source. Looking over the lake, I could see a very light haze from the wood smoke.
6) It was faintly to lightly smoky all along the southern edge of Silver Lake. It smelled like wood smoke and burning paper.
7) A smoky bonfire at the corner of Henry St. & 18th Ave. The woman who organized the Silver Lake beach fundraiser lives on 18th. I originally thought the bonfire was at her house. But it was not. The bonfire was on the property of the house on Henry. It is a double lot. I checked the Ramsey County property mapping website to be sure.
8) A small pocket of strong wood smoke at the intersection of Charles St. & 18th Ave. I could hardly breathe! I had to get out of here quickly. Your lungs do not want to expand to intake air this smoky. I had to struggle to inhale. I do not know if the smoke was from the bonfire at Henry & 18th or if there was another bonfire nearby. I could not stay around to find out.
9) Smoky haze at the intersection of 17th Ave. & Charles St. I did not go down to the intersection. I was in a hurry to get out of the area because it was so smoky. I needed to breathe!
9:25 PM: A very faint smokiness of some kind is in the air where we live. It is not nearly as smoky here as it is everywhere else in the city. When I got home, I had to change my clothes and bathe because I reeked of wood smoke!
9:50 PM: A very faint trace of wood smoke is in the air. I can barely smell it, but I can tell it is wood smoke. Nobody around us is burning.
10:20 PM: Moderate wood smoke. It is very smoky outside! The air reeks of wood smoke. I do not know why it gets so smoky on Sundays. It is not a holiday weekend. Don't people have to get up in the morning?
10:45 PM: Strong wood smoke! It is extremely smoky outside. It is about as smoky as it can possibly get. This air pollution is inhumane! 74 degrees at North High School. The humidity level in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area is about 80%. It is humid, but it is cooler outside than it is inside. If we lived in a decent city, we would be able to shut off the air conditioning and open the windows. But we can't! We can't even sit outside because the air is so damn smoky! This is hell on earth! We are prisoners in our own homes. We can't go outside for a breath of air. We can't open the windows. We are prisoners. North St. Paul sucks!
11:15 PM: Strong wood smoke continues. Off to bed. I will not fear nightmares when I sleep. We live a nightmare every day in North St. Paul, MN. A smoky hell of a nightmare.
