It’s Not Just Ach-You

I have spoken (in a nasally altered tone punctuated by the occasional sniff) with many first-time pollen allergy suffers this year. And I’m wondering why this year?

The load of pollen certainly has a role–higher counts, increased allergens inhaled. But there have always been high-pollen days every spring. Why would this one be the switch that starts the histamines doing their mean thing in my sinuses?

Turns out, this is a year for the pollen record books. According to the Wapo…

Oak trees are the culprit in many places in the Southeast. The trees produce 3,000 to 6,000 pollen particles per cubic meter; it only takes 10 particles to trigger an allergic reaction.

J.P. Levins, executive Web producer for the site pollen.com, said he’s received a lot of e-mails from suffering Floridians – but he expects more complaints from other parts of the U.S. soon. “The season is actually just picking up,” he said, adding that most of the country is facing high pollen counts.

This year is especially bad in the Southeast, weather experts say, probably due to winter’s unseasonably cold weather.

“That may have helped delay some of the plants from blooming as early as they may have wanted to,” said John Feerick, senior meteorologist at AccuWeather. “It’s the fact that everything is coming out all at once.”

Just picking up. Not what I wanted to hear. Buy stock in Kleenex and sudafed.

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