Economies relying on outdoor recreation are working under constant air quality alerts spurred by wildfire smoke from Canada. FOX 9's Babs Santos has the latest on how businesses in northern Minnesota are trying to move forward.

Minnesota

Northern Minnesota has experienced hazy conditions due to smoke from Canadian wildfires, resulting in air quality alerts and advisories to limit outdoor activities. The poor air quality led to a challenging week for outdoor recreation and some cancellations at local tourism businesses, such as canoe outfitters in the Boundary Waters area.

Recent changes in wind direction have begun to clear the smoke, with most of the region now experiencing moderate air quality. Local businesses report that conditions are returning to normal, and community events, such as a baseball tournament in Ely, have continued despite the haze. Residents and visitors note that the situation is improving day by day.

Northern MN tourism impacted by smoky air quality

And it was another hazy day across the state on what would otherwise be a really nice day outside. Temperatures very comfortable out there. So this is a live look at downtown Minneapolis. A little bit better visibility out there compared to some points last week. Thanks for joining us here at 5 on Fox 9. I'm Kelsey Carlson. And I'm Randy Meyer. We'll get to your top stories shortly, but first we need to talk about the weather. So Ian is joining us now. Smoke is one thing, but other than that, really nice. Yeah, it would have been a fantastic weekend. Would have could have should have. And if you were outside this afternoon, you probably noticed or maybe said to somebody, is it getting better? Does it? Does it feel like it's and you're absolutely right. I want you to keep in mind this long streak here. Pretty good approximation of the jet stream. Also where the wildfires air burning in Canada. And you notice these little white stripes. We call those streamlines. Gives you an idea of the surface flow. Surface flow out of the south is going to hold most of that smoke up to the north. That's why things feel a little better today. But even with that said, we've had a few light scattered showers out to the west this afternoon in terms of smoke. This is moving forward in time through tonight and into the day tomorrow. Notice the brightest yellows hold here in Wisconsin and the deep reds. The very heavy smoke stays bottled up to the north as we tap into this south wind. So what does it all really mean? Well, that south wind is going to help scrub away all of the smoke eventually as we get all the way into monday afternoon, still with an air quality alert. It is still going to be hazy, but it is not as thick, not as unhealthy as it was. Notice most of the region is classified as moderate as we head through this evening. But that south wind is also going to take our temperatures sky high as we start to crank in the heat, the humidity and storm chances. While the smoke fades late tomorrow afternoon, we'll talk about all of that here in about 10 minutes. All right, sounds good. Thanks Ian. And due to the poor air quality last thursday, the National Weather Service in Duluth advised people to limit their outdoor activity. Many saying that it was a tough week for outdoor recreation across the region up there. But as we start this week, things are looking as he just pointed out better as the smoke clears out of some of the places in northeastern Minnesota. Our Babs Santos spent the day talking with our neighbors to the north. He joins us now in the newsroom with more on that Babs. Yeah, I heard it again and again today. People up north saying things are improving by the day. These are photos from earlier in the week in Finland, Minnesota, and you can see it was bad. But now this weekend, about three days later, these are more recent pictures from nearby Sawbill Lake. Today I caught up with a Boundary Waters canoe outfitter that sets people up to go on back country trips. They've seen a handful of reservation cancellations, but for the most part say things are now getting back to normal. They're back to sending out more than a dozen groups of paddlers each day. They actually seems a lot better than the last two days. Certainly yesterday and the day before, we're probably the worst air quality that we've seen this season. Um, again, it seems like it's sort of high up in the air. It's hazy. It looks like sort of you see the clouds and you think, is it? Is it gonna rain? And then you're like, Oh, no, I think that might just be smoke in the air. Um, personally, I have been sneezing more than usual. It feels a little bit like seasonal allergies. Um, but nothing, nothing more than that. And today seems better. So, so maybe we're on the right trend. So, yeah, Randy Kelsey, busy days today talking with people north of us from Finland to Sawbill and then to Ely. That's right. Ely. Today we got a hold of the mayor of Ely, who told me while the smoke and air quality is unfortunate and obviously just out of control this weekend, they pushed forward by hosting a longstanding American Legion baseball state tournament. So Kelsey, people are, yes, just trying to move forward. All right. Thanks, Babs.

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