An air quality alert for central and southern Minnesota continues from Wednesday into Thursday until 11 p.m. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency says the area under the alert starts around Alexandria,

An air quality index of 300 or higher is considered hazardous, and the record-breaking smoke AQI in Grand Portage reached 800 on Tuesday.

The air quality alert may need to be extended into Monday if an additional batch of heavy smoke materializes from Manitoba and Saskatchewan wildfires and is transported into and across