Minnesotans are inhaling another plume of smoke from Canada this week, and an attempt to blame Canada's handling of wildfires is being met with eye-rolls north of the border. Why it matters: Experts say smoky summers are likely the new normal in Minnesota and many parts of North America unaccustomed to dealing with the haze as climate change turns the continent's forests into tinderboxes.

An air quality alert is in effect for nearly the entire state through Friday, but northern and central Minnesota will bear the brunt of it, due to their proximity to Canadian wildfires.

Strong to severe storms were expected to arrive out west in the afternoon, with damaging winds, hail and tornadoes all possible. Localized flooding is also a threat. The Twin Cities will see those storms later in the evening, likely after 9 p.m.

Dear Minnesota Reps. Tom Emmer, Brad Finstad, Michelle Fischbach and Pete Stauber, and your two GOP colleagues from Wisconsin, Tom Tiffany and Glenn Grothman. Canada here. We got your letter telling us that you Minnesotans are having trouble breathing from all the smoke drifting down from our wildfires.

The blazes have destroyed nearly 15 million acres of land, and the fire season is expected to go into September. With it comes the threat of smoky days in Minnesota and North Dakota.

Foresters from the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources spent 18 days fighting wildfires in remote Manitoba, Minn. CATHY WURZER: Well, you have seen it, and of course, you've smelled it all ...

Jaime Arredondo, Willmar, Minn. Four Republican representatives from Minnesota and two from Wisconsin recently published the letter that they sent to the Canadian ambassador to the U.S. asking what Canada was planning to do about the wildfire smoke that makes it hard for us to enjoy our usual summer activities.