Yes, that is the scent of manure in the Twin Cities

You aren’t imagining things if you’re in the Twin Cities and caught a whiff of what smells like manure. That scent is coming from farms in the southern parts of the state.  

“The air masses that we’ve been surrounded by in Minnesota have either been flow from the northwest, which will pull smoke in from Canada, or flow from the south, which has kept us very warm in October,” said Matt Taraldsen, a supervising meteorologist with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.  

“But along with that, [it] transports odor and things from the south,” Taraldsen said. 

During this time of year, farmers put out manure to help put nitrogen in the soil so next year’s crops will have the nutrients needed to thrive. Taraldsen adds that the smell in the Twin Cities is mostly due to the chemicals used in manure, like ammonia. Despite the odor, however, it doesn’t necessarily degrade air quality.  

“When we look at air quality, we’re looking at fine particles, so things that are inside, fire, smoke, things like that, manure does not have that,” Taraldsen said. 

A cold front overnight also brought in smoke from wildfires in Canada and North Dakota. Taraldsen said air quality would improve throughout the day Friday.

“The cold front has moved relatively rapidly,” Taraldsen said. “It’s basically crossed the entire state in the past 12 hours, and that's pulling the smoke with it.” 

Forecasts show late next week could potentially bring a low-pressure system that could drag in more smoke.

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