File Photo The view from the rooftop of the Magic City Discovery Center looks south toward a haze-covered downtown Minot on May 17, 2023. Wildfires in Canada accounted for the haze.

Minot and Ward County had some of the nation’s worst air quality in a new report that shows worsening air pollution across the country. Extreme heat and wildfires have been a major contributor, prompting the American Lung Association to remind people to pay attention to air quality readings in their area before engaging in outdoor activities.

“The level where it starts to impact health, you can’t always see it visually, or it might look like a haze,” said Jon Hunter, senior advocacy director with the American Lung Association, St. Paul, Minnesota. “It’s probably worthwhile for people to think about making a plan for what they’ll do, assuming we’re probably going to have more times like this, where wildfires either nearby or coming from Canada or the West Coast just happen to bring a lot of smoke into the area.”

People should think about what they will do and make a plan, such as ensuring a good home air filter, before air quality becomes a serious issue, he said.

Ozone smog and particle pollution can impact anyone’s health, but people with certain health issues are more at risk, according to the lung association. Both pollutants can cause premature death or serious health effects, such as asthma attacks, heart attacks and strokes, preterm births and impaired cognitive functioning later in life. Particle pollution also can cause lung cancer.

The American Lung Association’s 26th annual “State of the Air” report ranked Minot, Bismarck and Fargo on this year’s list of top 25 metro areas with highest number of days with unhealthy levels of daily fine particulate matter.

The Minot metro area was listed as 19th worst among 223 metropolitan areas for short-term particle pollution over the 2021-23 data period. Minot only recently became a metro area, so Ward County data is included. Minot had 10.5 unhealthy days, which combined with severity of those days, accounted for the ranking.

Bismarck ranked 14th over the three-year period. Fargo, which ranked 18th, had ranked 24th in the 2024 report.

Hunter explained the report looks at particle pollution within a 24-hour period as well as an annual average.

“The good news is, from an annual standpoint, the air quality looks pretty good. There’s a passing grade for the (Ward) county and most of the state for the annual average,” he said. Only Cass County failed to pass as it fell a little above the new standard for particulate matter, he said.

“It’s the short-term issue where the problems really come in,” Hunter said. “That really was, I think, a lot of wildfire smoke in 2023 that really caused the grades to fall this year.”

Air quality in most areas of the state significantly worsened since last year’s report, the lung association reported. Hunter said air quality monitors exist in nine counties in North Dakota, including areas impacted by energy activity.

Minot ranked 100th of 228 metro areas for worst ozone pollution in this year’s report, between Bismarck at 92nd and Fargo at 130th.

“Traditionally, in North Dakota, there’s not been a lot of ozone issues,” Hunter said. In urban settings with high traffic, summer heat can create ozone in that environment. North Dakota is less urban and benefits from winds that disperse opportunities for pollution to build up, he said.

“But the wildfire smoke, in this case, did kind of create the right atmosphere for also creating the ozone pollution, which a lot of people think of as smog,” Hunter said.

The 2025 report found nearly half of the U.S. population, 156 million people, live in areas with unhealthy levels of air pollution. There are 42.5 million people living in areas with failing grades for ground-level ozone, particulate and year-round average level of particle pollution.