(FOX 9) – Wildfire smoke drifted from Canada into the Twin Cities on a weekend when the weather had many hoping to get outside.

But at parks around the metro, people were sticking it to Mother Nature on Sunday. Many Minnesotans went outdoors to ride bicycles, play volleyball, kayak, or sunbathe.

Some say they recognized that air quality was compromised but wanted to do things anyway.

“It’s not the best… definitely the air quality is not great,” Sid Shad told FOX 9. “We do have to live our lives… you have to deal with it.”

Advice from an expert

What they’re saying:

FOX 9 Meteorologist Cody Matz says he expects the smoky air to linger through Monday. June 2, until winds shift to give us a bit of a reprieve.

In the meantime, Matz suggests, “if you smell smoke, then it’s usually thick enough to where you’re going to run into some health issues. It’s not instantaneous, [but] if you’re spending large amounts of time outside, at some point your lungs may start to burn a little bit. You may have some breathing trouble, so it’s just a recommendation to get inside, seek filtered air to help relieve that stress on your body,” Matz said.

The backstory:

Summer season is wildfire season in Canada, and already this season, at least a dozen wildfires have scorched over a million acres of land in Canada.

The iconic RiverPlace sign, along St. Anthony Main in Minneapolis, is five stories up.

But that hasn’t stopped some “urban explorers” from getting on the roof.

The big concern is that someone might get hurt.

“It certainly looks like a bunch of daredevils,” says Bryan Carlton, from Minneapolis. “Certainly, looks pretty dangerous, too.”  

A photograph shared with KSTP shows somebody standing on the giant letters, taking a selfie.  

And clips of rooftop urban exploring are easy to find on social media, including in the Mill Ruins area.

“There are going to be repercussions, but my concern is somebody’s going to get hurt,” declares Minneapolis City Council member Michael Rainville.

Rainville says he’s met with police and building owners, some of whom have filed complaints about urban explorer break-ins.

“They do a lot of damage,” he explains. “They’re jimmying, they’re breaking in, they come in with pry bars and they break in the doors, going to the roof.”  

Rainville says there have been about a dozen incidents in recent weeks, including at the Mill City Museum.

Carlton suspects he’s seen it too.

“Oddly enough, my apartment kind of looks over the Northeast area,” he notes. “I actually saw some kids that were on top of like a parking garage.”

Carlton thinks social media is the driving force for all of this.

The biggest concern is for the safety of these explorers.

“At the end of the day, they shouldn’t be up there,” says Makayla Smith, visiting from Iowa. “But if they’re going to be up there, hopefully they’re with good people who care about them.”

Some people have gotten hurt in the past.

In 2023, a 16-year-old fell 20-30 feet in the Mill Ruins area and broke his leg. Last year, a man fell about 30 feet and was critically injured.

Rainville says Minneapolis police have made several arrests.

He and police are urging property owners to ramp up their security and get surveillance video equipment.

“The kids hanging off the sign at RiverPlace, they’re going to get hurt,” he says. “They fall down, they’re dead and they might fall on someone.”