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Minnesota Air Quality

Northern Twin Cities Metro is the worst air in Minnesota right now at an index of 25, which is Good, from fine particles (PM2.5). AirNow carries 17 reporting areas in the state. No air quality alert is in force.

Reporting areas: 17
Worst index now: 25
Alerts in force: 0
Towns under smoke: Unavailable

Radar

Reflectivity now over Minnesota. Open it to see the particulate forecast on the map.

Open the live radar with the particulate forecast

Radar mosaic and map layers from NOAA MRMS and NOAA National Air Quality Forecast Capability. Boundaries from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet.

Alerts in force

An Air Quality Alert is issued by the National Weather Service on behalf of a state or local agency when pollution is expected to reach a level that harms health. An Air Stagnation Advisory means the air will not move enough to clear what is already in it.

None are in force in Minnesota right now. All Minnesota warnings.

By city, now and the days ahead17

Every AirNow reporting area in Minnesota: what its monitors measured this hour, and what the state or local agency that forecasts for it expects today and tomorrow. Each area links to the nearest town’s page.

Reporting area	Now	Category now	Today	Tomorrow	Pollutant
Northern Twin Cities Metro	25	Good	Good	Good	PM2.5
Central Minnesota	22	Good	Good	Good	PM2.5
Twin Cities	22	Good	Good	Good	PM2.5
Duluth Area	21	Good	Good	Good	PM2.5
Minnesota Arrowhead	21	Good	Good	Good	PM2.5
North Central Minnesota	21	Good	Good	Good	PM2.5
Southern Twin Cities Metro	20	Good	Good	Good	Ozone
Southwestern Minnesota	20	Good	Good	Good	PM2.5
St. Cloud Area	20	Good	Good	Good	PM2.5
West Central Minnesota	20	Good	Good	Good	PM2.5
East Central Minnesota	19	Good	Good	Good	PM2.5
Mississippi River Valley	19	Good	Good	Good	Ozone
Rochester Area	19	Good	Good	Good	Ozone
South Central Minnesota	19	Good	Good	Good	Ozone
Red River Valley North	18	Good	Good	Good	PM2.5
Red River Valley South	18	Good	Good	Good	PM2.5
Northwestern Minnesota	17	Good	Good	Good	Ozone

The forecaster’s discussion

Written by Minnesota Pollution Control Agency for Northern Twin Cities Metro and filed with AirNow.

Continued below normal temperatures and the lack of wind moving persistently from a source region of elevated concentrations of fine particle pollution into Minnesota means continued Green (good) AQI statewide through the weekend and into next week.

Smoke

NOAA’s Hazard Mapping System smoke analysis could not be read just now.

Smoke on the radar over Minnesota

What this means

The index runs from 0 to 500. Good is 0 to 50, Moderate to 100, Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups to 150, Unhealthy to 200, Very Unhealthy to 300, and Hazardous above that. The figure reported for a place is the highest index among the pollutants measured there, and the pollutant that produced it is named beside it.

What these numbers are. An index beside a monitor’s name is a measurement, published hourly by AirNow and preliminary until the operating agency certifies it. A category for today or tomorrow is a state or local agency forecaster’s own forecast for a reporting area. An hourly index is NOAA’s air quality model on a five-kilometer grid, not a reading from any instrument. Where a town has no monitor within reach, only the model figures appear, and the page says so.

Towns

Air quality for any town in Minnesota: what is measured nearby, the category forecast for today and tomorrow, and NOAA’s model hour by hour. Largest first.

170 smaller towns

Smaller places have pages too; search for one on the air quality landing page.

Sources

Observations and daily forecasts from AirNow, the US Environmental Protection Agency’s program with NOAA, the National Park Service, NASA, tribal, state and local agencies. Hourly forecasts from NOAA’s National Air Quality Forecast Capability. Smoke analysis from NOAA’s Hazard Mapping System. Alerts from the National Weather Service. Index categories and breakpoints are EPA’s, as revised in 2024.