Air quality fine despite smoky haze above Twin Cities metro

More hazy skies are expected Friday in the Twin Cities metro, with smoke moving in from wildfires on the west coast and from the Canadian province of Alberta.

Winds out the south are pushing most of the smoke out of the area, and weather conditions are keeping the smoke well above the ground.

That meaning the air quality on the ground in Minnesota is not being affected.

"The flow aloft, at least, is sending the majority of that wildfire smoke up off to our north, heading for Manitoba and northwest Ontario," said National Weather Service forecaster Matt Greisinger. "We're kind of left with what we had for the last week or so."

Greisinger describes it as a milky color to the otherwise blue skies, with the sun turning a bright red as it sets in the west later Friday.

Fires burning in California, Oregon, Arizona, Washington and other western states, as well as Canada, have filled the skies in regions of the western U.S. with smoke and haze, forcing some affected areas to declare air quality alerts or advisories.

The Associated Press provided content for this article