When I lived in Beijing, we often had a weather forecast that was just one word: Smoke! It was usually in the fall, when the peasants in the surrounding provinces of Shandong and Hebei were burning the fields after harvest. The city would be shrouded in smoke, with off-the-charts bad air quality until it rained or the winds shifted to the north.
On Monday it was Minnesota’s turn. Smoke from wildfires burning in northern Saskatchewan descended on our fair state, making the air quality in Minneapolis worse than in Beijing.
Talk about embarrassing!
Image #1: MyFoxTwinCities
Image #2: twitter.com/David Cooper, via MyFoxTwinCities
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every fall we used to have this haze when the grass seed farmers burned the stubble to rid the acreage of pests, as did the native peoples before us. after enough massive pile-ups on the freeway between eugene and portland, they finally banned the burning. forest fires?…..a whole other matter. we have had our share of that, too. hope it clears up soon!