A Smoky Summer

There goes our nice stretch of windows-open weather. You will smell smoke, and some will experience health impacts, as Canadian wildfire smoke moves in behind departing heat and humidity. This Code Red and Orange air quality alert will be in effect until Saturday evening, and is tied for the longest air quality alert ever issued in Minnesota. Climate change is making wildfire season longer and more intense in the U.S. and Canada.

– Mike Augustyniak
Meteorologist at CBS News
via social media
August 1, 2025

Related Off-site Links and Updates:
Minnesota Faces Longest Air Quality Alert in State History with Wildfires Raging Across Canada – Mitch Klein, Feven Gerezgiher and Juan Del Valle (MPR News, August 2, 2025).
An Exceptionally Dry Year in Canada Fuels Minnesota's Smoky Summer – Paul Huttner and Matthew Alvarez (MPR News, August 14, 2025).
As Canada Wildfires Choke U.S. with Smoke, Republicans Demand Action. But Not on Climate Change – The Associated Press via MPR News (August 14, 2025).


See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• “It Is in Our Hands”
• George Monbiot: Quote of the Day – July 21, 2022
• Declaration of Interdependence
• Biophilia, the God Pan, and a Baboon Named Scott
• Bernie Sanders: Quote of the Day – July 1, 2021
• The Stakes Have Shifted
• The Link Between Destruction of Biodiversity and Emerging Infectious Diseases
• Something to Think About – February 10, 2020
• In Australia, “the Land As We Know It Is No More”
• Greta Thunberg: Quote of the Day – September 23, 2019
• Five Powerful Responses to the Amazon Fires
• Greta Thunberg: Quote of the Day – March 16, 2019
• As the World Burns, Calls for a “Green New Deal”
• Marianne Williamson: Quote of the Day – August 29, 2017
• The People’s Climate Solidarity March – Minneapolis, 4/29/17
• “It Is All Connected”
• Standing Together
• Standing in Prayer and Solidarity with the Water Protectors of Standing Rock
• The Paris Climate Talks, Multilateralism, and a “New Approach to Climate Action”
• Rachel Smolker: Quote of the Day – September 19, 2014
• Superstorm Sandy: A “Wake-Up Call” on Climate Change
• Chris Hedges: Quote of the Day – May 31, 2011

Image: Michael J. Bayly (Minneapolis, August 1, 2025).