WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — One of the best views in Winston-Salem is from a garage deck. There's a box on a pole, but the box doesn't take pictures of the cityscape, it's a pollen sampler and boy oh boy was there some pollen this week!
"We're looking in the microscope and we're making the tally marks as we check them and the one I did on Monday there are only three little marks, but the one from Tuesday, there are a whole bunch of marks," said Robert Russ, Senior Environmental Specialist, Office of Environmental Assistance and Protection, Forsyth County.
The pollen tally went from three marks to 123 marks! All of it Cedar. No wonder why your eyes were itchy and you were sneezy this week! The Eastern Red Cedar is a common tree, you see it on the roadside a lot and it's an early-season pollinator.
The EPA office in Forsyth County monitors the pollen count and has been doing it for the last 28 years, but there's no standard date for when specialists start tracking the pollen.
"Over the years we've started this at different times. We've had four years when we didn't even start this pollen tracking until March," said Russ.
So, is it early for this amount of pollen? The data is inconclusive. What the specialist did say is if pollen bothers you, either now or later in the year, you should go to an allergist to see what your trigger is so you can prepare for it.
HOW THE UPS AND DOWNS OF WEATHER PLAY INTO POLLEN
By this time of year, the sun is getting higher in the sky and the days are getting longer. That starts to bring trees out of their winter dormancy and they can begin to produce pollen.
The weather can certainly play a role. Warmer winters and lack of cold air can cause trees to bud out earlier than usual. 2023 saw some of the earliest pollen levels on record, for example, given a very warm start to the calendar year.
"This winter has been slightly warmer than average so far," says WFMY News 2 Chief Meteorologist Tim Buckley. "We're running about 2 degrees above average for the season and we really haven't had many cold nights. That could be why trees are already producing so much pollen"