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Poor air quality in St. Paul, Minnesota: What causes it and how should you deal with it?

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By: Audrey Vlaminck

Image taken from Wikimedia Commons

Minnesota’s Air Quality Index reached record highs in the summer of 2021, creating serious risk of negative health impacts for everyone exposed, not just those with sensitivities. Despite the gradual return to the normal range in St. Paul and surrounding areas, going into this year’s wildfire season, residents should remain mindful of the dangers that air quality pollution poses.

Air quality is measured through the Air Quality Index which gives a number to the amount of pollution present, ranging from green (0-50 AQI – Safe to breathe) to maroon (301+ AQI – Hazardous, avoid physical activity outdoors if at all possible. People in high risk groups should remain indoors). This index is extremely useful as it can help warn people of the current risk, and can help people in sensitive groups make educated decisions on the amount of exposure they’re going to be experiencing. Bad air quality can cause shortness of breath and other respiratory problems that have a greater impact on people who have health issues that already impact their breathing.

This bad air quality comes from a variety of factors, but St. Paul is affected a lot by wildfire smoke mostly coming from Canada, as well as more local ozone pollution. While the negative effects of breathing in large amounts of smoke are pretty well known, the dangers of ozone levels are talked about a lot less. Ozone in the atmosphere helps to protect the Earth from radiation, and is extremely helpful. Ground level ozone however, forms when smog and other organic compounds react with each other in high temperatures. Contributors to this type of pollution include vehicles, paints and solvents, factories, and other fossil fuel burning activities. When inhaled, this ozone can cause similar health issues to smoke exposure, such as coughing, chest pain, shortness of breath, and even asthma.

These pollutants and their impacts on the overall Air Quality Index are bad on their own, but they are made much worse by climate change. Hotter weather and longer, drier summers cause wildfires to become more common and be much more destructive when they do happen, causing much more smoke to be produced. Ozone pollution is also worsened by higher temperatures, as they create an environment that is easier for the reactions producing it to happen. An increase in pollution from actions that burn fossil fuels that accelerate climate change also worsen ozone, as they provide more material to react with. Overall, climate change has a direct impact on air quality and the factors that cause it.

Experts predict that this summer’s air quality will be nowhere near as bad as it was last summer due to a milder early wildfire season as well as much less of a drought. Despite this hopeful news, those living in the Twin Cities area should remain conscious of the Air Quality Index and be on the watch for alerts as a drought later on in the summer is not out of the question.

When air quality is bad it is advised to reduce your time spent outdoors, especially intense exercise or any other activity that would cause you to be breathing harder. When inside, make sure to close your doors and windows and run an air filter if you have access to one. If you must go outside, certain types of masks can help reduce the amount of pollution particles you breathe in. Doctors recommend a properly fitting N95 or KN95 mask specifically for this type of filtration.

As climate change progresses, emissions from burning fossil fuels get worse and dry seasons become hotter and longer. This will result in a continuous decline of air quality due to an increase of direct pollutants such as exhaust and smog as well as other factors like ground level ozone and wildfire smoke. While we should not give up in our efforts to reduce this pollution and reverse its effects, these periods of bad air quality have become frequent enough that everyone should know how to read an Air Quality Index score as well as know how to minimize negative health effects when the air becomes harmful.

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