Wildfires burning across northern Minnesota are producing heavy, dense smoke, and light winds from the north are bringing it hundreds of miles south to the Twin Cities and central Minnesota.

A “fog bank” was settling in across northern Anoka and Washington counties in the Twin Cities as of 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, and it’s poised to engulf the rest of the metro as the afternoon and evening wear on.

“There will be smoke,” said Minnesota Pollution Control Agency meteorologist Ryan Lueck. “The question is how much.”

Unlike last year, when several air quality alerts were issued due to fires in Canada, the fires in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness and the Superior National Forest are much closer.

That doesn’t leave much distance or time for the smoke to disperse, meaning it is much more concentrated and “packing a punch,” Lueck said.

“The fires are large and close,” he said.

That’s why it’s imperative for residents to heed the air quality warnings the agency issued that remain in effect until 11 a.m. Friday.

The general public, especially children and the elderly, has been directed to limit being outside for prolonged activities or using heavy exertion. People are also asked to reduce activities that contribute to air pollution, such as outdoor burning and vehicle trips. Keep windows closed overnight to prevent smoke from getting inside.

In the Arrowhead region in northeastern Minnesota, the agency issued a maroon warning, the highest and most rarely used level on the agency’s six-level warning system. The warning includes Duluth, Ely, Hibbing, Two Harbors and Carlton County south of Duluth.

Air quality alerts begin when bad air values reach 100 on a scale starting at zero. In the maroon-warned area, readings were at 300 or above on Wednesday afternoon, Lueck said. Red alerts, a level 4 out of 6 for unhealthy air, covered an area from International Falls south to Bemidji, then west to Moorhead and southeast through St. Cloud, the Twin Cities and Red Wing.

“This level of concentration is not common,” he said. “This is a top-end event.”

Wildfire smoke contains fine particle pollution from whatever it burns, and it can irritate the eyes, nose and throat and cause coughing, chest tightness, shortness of breath, dizziness, or fatigue, the MPCA said.

“The more you breathe in, the worse the health impacts,” Lueck said.

Most of the smoke will be elevated, but there will be enough at ground level to notice, said Brennan Dettmann, a meterologist with the National Weather Service in Chanhassen.

“You might be out one second, then 10 minutes later it looks very smoky,” Dettmann said. “Most likely, you’ll notice it.”

Dettmann said the metro is right on the border of where smoke will travel. Those in the northeast metro are more likely to see and smell more than people in the southwest metro. Central Minnesota and places immediately north of the metro have a better chance of getting it, he said.

“It might stick around for a while once it arrives,” Dettmann said. “It all depends on the direction of the winds and how much gets sloshed around in the atmosphere.”

With fires expected to continue burning into next week, and the state locked into a slow-moving weather pattern, there aren’t the winds needed to push the smoke away, he added.

“Limit your exposure as much as possible,” Lueck said.

On the plus side, temperatures might be suppressed a bit as the smoke will act as a cloud cover, limiting how high the mercury will go. But temperatures are still forecast to reach the low to mid-90s at least through Sunday, the Weather Service said.

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