A dangerous haze of wildfire smoke from Canada settles over Minnesota.

On Wednesday, smoke from the fires again moved into the United States, making the air in Minneapolis and most of the state unhealthy.

Wednesday, there was a gray cloud and a strong smell in the Twin Cities. Usually busy bike lanes and running tracks were mostly empty. Several people who took the train or bus home wore high-quality masks.

On Wednesday, the air quality in Minneapolis, St. Paul, and most of Minnesota hit unhealthy levels. The Upper Midwest is the latest part of the U.S. to have its air polluted by smoke from wildfires in Canada that have been burning for weeks.

Last week, people in Minnesota, like people in New York and much of the East Coast, looked to the sky and the Air Quality Index to figure out what was going on around them. The Air Quality Index in Minneapolis and St. Paul was above 250 on Wednesday, which the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says is "very unhealthy" for most people.

The smoke also got to other places in the Upper Midwest. On Wednesday night, the AQI in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, was 190, and in Fargo, North Dakota, it was 180. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency issued an air quality statement that said the air would be unhealthy for everyone from the Twin Cities in the east to the western border of the state through Friday. Because of how bad the air was on Wednesday afternoon, the Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board canceled all public events. But in St. Paul, a small group of young men went to soccer practice at a university sports field despite the unhealthy conditions.