Saturday’s air quality readings broke records.
"Actually, it turned out to be - it surpassed May 17, 2023 as the worst PM smoke day in North Dakota history. Not something I like to hang my hat on, but - I just report the data."
That’s Ryan Mills. He’s ambient air monitoring manager for North Dakota’s Department of Environmental Quality. He says Saturday’s Air Quality Index, or AQI, stayed above 200 micrograms per cubic meter for a 24 hour average. PM stands for particulate matter.
Smoke from wildfires in Canada has been drifting over the state over the past few days. Mills says when it first got here, it wasn’t low enough to bother anyone.
"There was smoke aloft, so basically you could see the haze in the sky but down on the ground you couldn't smell it, our monitors weren't picking anything up because it wasn't at ground level. And that's where the people are, and that's where you'd feel impacts - when it's at ground level. Then that cold front moved in, and it took that whole upper atmosphere, that sinking air, and pulled all that smoke that was aloft all the way down to the ground."
Forecasts indicate the smoke should be moving out of the area overnight and tomorrow.
Mills says residents can monitor air quality readings at AirNow.gov.