Air quality in Minneapolis ranks 2nd worst in the world Friday, with alert stretching through weekend

NEXT Weather: 5 p.m. report on Aug. 1, 2025

The state of Minnesota is entering another in a long string of summer days marred by air quality alerts. Poor air quality will continue through Saturday with lingering wildfire smoke from Canada.

WCCO meteorologist Joseph Dames says that the upside is that unseasonably pleasant temperatures have moved in, and will stick around, with highs in the 70s and low humidity.

That may be small consolation, as the air quality alert will remain in effect through noon on Monday, with smoke from Canadian wildfires keeping air quality index levels in the unhealthy categories. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has the latest AQI forecasts on its website.

According to IQAir, Minneapolis’ air quality on Friday morning and through the workday ranked as the second-worst among the world’s major cities. Only Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo had worse AQI levels.

This is one of the longest air quality alerts on record, tying with those issued for St. Louis County during the Greenwood fire in 2021, according to the agency.  

Dames says our nights remain cool, with lows in the 50s and some patchy morning fog. A few weak systems pass to our west early next week, with low rain chances limited to far western Minnesota.

High temperatures will be around 80 through Tuesday, and in the mid-80s after that. Rain chances are low on Monday and Tuesday, with higher chances by the middle of the week.

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Joseph Dames

Joseph Dames joined the WCCO team during the winter of 2022. He is currently the weekday morning meteorologist. You can also catch him putting together weather, science, and other environmental stories during the week.