1:45 PM: I was heading home early when I thought it would be nice to go by Silver Lake. It was a beautiful, windy afternoon with a temperature of about 70 degrees. As I neared the intersection of 19th Ave. & Margaret St., I smelled wood smoke. I was a little surprised to smell wood smoke this early. As I headed west on 19th, I found the source. The household right next door to the home that was torn down (and is now a hole in the ground) was burning wood in their back yard. It was windy at this time. A small cloud of smoke was blowing west. I was tempted to go back into the alley to see if they were having a bonfire or burning yard waste, but I did not.
Every day in this town people are smoking up the air. Ten years ago, it was not like this. This city was a nice place to live.
4:35 PM: No smoke. 73 degrees, sunny, very nice.
5:00 PM: A little smoke that smelled like wood smoke for a minute, then it was gone.
6:00 PM: No smoke.
7:00 PM: No smoke. The air is not fresh at this time. But we will gladly take it over the smoky air we normally have to breathe.
8:00 PM: A very faint trace of some type of smoke is in the air. It is not strong enough to determine what it is.
8:10 PM: STRONG WOOD SMOKE! IT IS SMOKY AS HELL! We went from a very faint trace of something in the air to extremely heavy wood smoke in ten minutes! NORTH SAINT PAUL SUCKS! Horrible place to live! 64 degrees. Is this a bonfire or recreational fireplace use? We had our windows open and would have left them open if not for the wood smoke pollution! Now we must close the windows and live like prisoners!
8:40 PM: Moderate to strong wood smoke continues. It smells like someone may be burning brush.
9:10 PM: Moderate very stinky wood smoke now.
9:22 PM: Light wood smoke. The air is clearing. Every night the air is smoky. This is hell. 61 degrees at this time.
9:50 PM: Moderate, very smoky air continues.
10:30 PM: Faint wood smoke at this time.
10:49 PM: Light wood smoke. The intensity is increasing again.
11:18 PM: Moderate wood smoke. Very smoky air is back!
Midnight: Moderately strong wood smoke continues.
This is how you are going to live if you purchase real estate in North St. Paul, MN. It is not just our area that has smoky air often. It is a citywide problem.