GREENSBORO, N.C. — Spring is in the air, and even though we haven't had many warm days, allergy season is making its grand entrance. So, when should you start breaking out the tissues and the allergy medicine?
Our News 2 Weather Team keeps track of the pollen report each day for you.
Today, was the first day where tree pollen reached a high level for the year and it's expected to stay high for the next few days. Trees are the only thing causing a problem right now, which is normal, and right on time too. Tree pollen is already starting to cause some itchy and watery eyes and sniffles for some folks, even though we're still technically in winter. Pollen fully disregards what the calendar says...as does the weather!
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According to our friends at the Forsyth County Environmental Assistance and Protection office, cedar/juniper, elm, and maple tree pollen concentrations are reaching into the "high" range.
Even with some cooler days and nights through the weekend, dry weather looks to stick with us for several days, which will keep the tree pollen levels high. You can check out a video of the latest 7 Day Forecast here:
While tree pollen has been high today and will be for the next few days, levels will fluctuate with changing weather, but the trend only goes up from here, with pollen levels getting higher before they get better.
Tree pollen levels are the first to get going and reach their peak in mid-April as spring is young and just getting started, but grass and weed pollen doesn't start to become a problem until late April and May. Some folks can deal with allergy issues all summer long and even well into the fall. Weed pollen levels don't start to really ramp down until we're heading into October.
Last year at this time spring blooms were way ahead of schedule by over 20+ days due to the warm winter of 2019-2020 that we had, causing allergy season to get a jump start and also putting crops at great risk because of the possibility of frost. This time around, we've had a pretty cold winter with no big warmth to speak of, which means things are blooming close to schedule right now.
It's a good idea to pay attention to the pollen forecast each day.
