It could be worse, allergy sufferers
Pollen counts are high but not excessively so
It may come as little consolation to those suffering through stuffy noses and itchy eyes, but doctors say this spring's pollen season is only moderate at worst
It could be worse, allergy sufferers
Pollen counts are high but not excessively so
It may come as little consolation to those suffering through stuffy noses and itchy eyes, but doctors say this spring's pollen season is only moderate at worst.
Thursday's Houston pollen count soared — 2,253 pollen particles per cubic meter of air. The city's ubiquitous pine trees led the pollen parade, dumping more than 990 pollen particles per cubic meter of air. Oaks are second with 445. Grass pollen also was heavy, reaching 20 pollen particies per cubic meter of air.
Bartimmo said, however, spring 2008's allergy season has been relatively mild, and Baylor College of Medicine pediatrician Dr. Sara Rizvi concurred. Last year, Rizvi noted, was one of the region's worst allergy years in a decade.
Houston's mild winter may have played a role in spring's sneezy start.
National Weather Service forecaster Matt Moreland reported that winter temperatures consistently were above average at Bush Intercontinental Airport, with February weighing in at almost 5 degrees above normal. Only five freezes were reported, Moreland said. Normally a dozen are expected.
Moreland said the mild temperatures were the result of La Niña, which typically generates warmer, drier weather.
Climatic changes from global warming also may have contributed.
"It's an incredibly complicated issue... but there's evidence that spring arrives today earlier than it did two or three decades ago," said Dr. Martin Citardi, chairman of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology — Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Texas Medical School-Houston. "That means that pollen levels are greater than they otherwise would be."
Nasal allergies are more common now than they were 20 or 30 years ago.
"There may be many factors for that," he said. "Global warming may be on the list."
Stanford University biologist Terry Root said spring's arrival worldwide — based on the action of plants and animals — comes about 15 days earlier than it did 30 years ago. She based her observation on a review of 150 studies examining changes likely linked to global warming.
Bartimmo said he began seeing seasonal allergy victims two or three weeks ago and expects the season to subside in a few weeks.
Rizvi, though, conten