A beautiful day, a beautiful evening. That means smoky air.
We enjoyed a little smoke from burning yard waste blowing in the windows intermittently throughout the day with some pretty heavy yard waste and wood smoke this evening. The joys of living in North St. Paul.
10:45 AM: Very faint grass smoke coming in the windows. Somebody is illegally burning yard waste somewhere off in the distance. It is breezy at this time. The smoke comes and goes with the breeze.
11:00 AM: Faint grass smoke coming in the windows. It's a little stronger now. 67 degrees, sunny, beautiful except for the yard waste smoke in the air. I stepped outside to try to determine the direction the smoke is coming from. It was hard to tell as the breeze shifted directions every few seconds. It seemed to be coming out of the west. It came and went for the next half hour or so.
12:22 PM: A very faint trace of some type of smoke is in the air. Likely grass smoke.
1:25 PM: Faint yard waste smoke coming and going with the breeze. It did not last too long.
3:30 PM: A very faint smoke of some type is in the air. Not sure what it is.
4:00 PM: No smoke. Fresh air.
5:00 PM: Fresh air.
6:15 PM: Fresh air continues. 79 degrees and windy.
6:45 PM: A very faint smoke of some type is in the air and coming in the windows. I don't know what it is.
7:15 PM: A very faint smoke of some type continues.
7:18 PM: Light to moderate wood and yard waste smoke flooded into the house. With the wind gusty as it is, the house was filled with the stench of wood and yard waste smoke within seconds. The entire house reeked. Close the windows! The smoke was coming and going on the wind.
I found the source of the yard waste burning. For the third evening in a row a home near Margaret & 19th was burning. On Friday, a home in the area of Margaret & 18th was having a fire and burning tree branches. Last night a home near the corner of Margaret & 19th or the home next door was having a bonfire and burning wood and what smelled like paper. Tonight a home near the corner of Margaret & 19th was burning yard waste. We are a good distance away from that house but the wind filled our house with that smoke like the burning was happening next door. I hope city council members Jan Walczak and Bob Bruton caught some of that yard waste smoke inside their homes. They live closer to the burner than we do.
7:45 PM: Very faint yard waste or some other smoke at this time.
8:30 PM: Light wood smoke at this time coming from the direction of the yard waste burner. It comes and goes as the wind shifts direction.
8:40 PM: Very faint smoke coming from the direction of the yard waste burner.
9:00 PM: No smoke.
9:30 PM: No smoke.
10:00 PM: No smoke. 71 degrees in North St. Paul.
We are tempted to leave a few windows open around the house for some ventilation and to cool the house a little before morning. It's a big risk because you never know when somebody is going to start a bonfire late or do some late night yard waste burning. It happens all the time. There are not many things more infuriating than to wake up at 1 AM to a house full of wood smoke.
The average high temperature for today is 42 degrees. When temperatures return to normal the bonfires should go away until it warms up again in April and May. This smoky weekend is only a sample of what is to come.