The science behind declaring air quality alerts in Minnesota
MINNEAPOLIS – We all know how hazy the summer's been outside in Minnesota, with dozens of air quality alerts already issued this year.
Meteorologists with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) use air quality data collected from 24 stations around the state to help make those determinations.
One of the stations is on the side of Interstate 94 overlooking downtown Minneapolis. There are sensors on the roof that ingest air to be measured inside the station.
RELATED: Minneapolis' worst air quality day was equivalent to smoking half pack of cigarettes
Matt Taraldsen, a supervisory meteorologist, says they're looking for ozone and particulate matter, which can get lodged in people's lungs.
Nate Niebeling, who operates the equipment at the Minneapolis station, says the PM levels were "stellar" on Tuesday, compared to last week when they were at least 50 times as high.
Readings that high mean hazy skies and dangerous air. Taraldsen and his team make the call to issue an alert.
"We as meteorologists have to look at the weather conditions, then we look at the on-screen observations to kind of get a sense of what we think is going to happen," Taraldsen said. "We try to get air quality alerts out 12 to 24 hours in advance."
There have been 24 alerts this year, a record number, and this is before Canada's busy wildfire season has even really started.
"Last week and the week before just really highlighted for me the importance of the work we do and what it means to folks," Niebeling said. "Hearing folks care about the air quality they're breathing and the part we play in letting them know what they're taking in, I find it very important."
RELATED: Smoke from Canada wildfires is increasing health risks in Black and poorer communities
Taraldsen says Canada's wildfires aren't going away, but the question of whether unsafe air will be our new summer normal depends on the weather.
"That's our job basically," he said. "It's just another type of weather forecasting but a very specialized one. This data is the ground truth, the gold standard."
There are eight other sensor stations in the metro.
You can buy a high-end air quality sensor for your home for roughly $250.
