SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Many in Michiana have been starting to deal with spring allergies. This season might feel a little earlier than usual thanks to earlier, more consistent warmer temperatures.
“We do have pollen production now. We're just not in the thick of it yet.”
Brieanna Sloniker, Agriculture & Natural Resources Educator from the Marshall County Purdue Extension, says the spring allergies you may have been experiencing are just the tip of the iceberg, as it can get worse further into the growing season.
“These showers that we're going to get in April are going to help liven up these plants, which, once they're liven up, they wake up from the winter, then they're going to be, they're going to be heavily producing."
And as those April showers blossom those may flowers, Dr. Christina Barnes, Immunologist at the South Bend Clinic, says it's important to know the signs of an allergy before it turns into something more serious.
“If you're really being impacted by your allergies, it's impacting, you know, your child's school, your work in a you know, difficulty having difficulty sleeping. Your child's having a hard time playing outdoors, those are times to see a doctor”
Some of the severe weather that we’ve been seeing can also increase allergy symptoms, including recent rounds of thunderstorms as Sloniker says, “With that heavy rain and that wind, what that'll actually do is break up the pollen clusters and make it more into more fine particles, which the finer the particle, the more easily it will be dispersed.”
While storms can kick more pollen into the air, calmer rain can actually settle those fine particles. It isn’t just stormy weather that brings an increased pollen count, it's warm sunny days that are major pollen production days.
Barnes said, “We know that when we have nice weather, when it's kind of warm, a little bit breezy, we're going to have higher pollen levels. So that's something that when we see nice weather coming, we know that that pollen is on the way.”
Barnes recommends over-the-counter antihistamines to quell allergy symptoms in any weather situation. She also reminds people that morning hours are usually the worst time for pollen production, so you might want to keep the car windows shut during your commute.