April 5, 2010 | Story by: Leslie Huffman | Categories: News
Cary, NC – As I’m sure you all can see, Cary is under a blanket of yellow. It is that time of year. I would love to open my windows and feel the spring breeze and smell the flowers blooming, but yellow would clash with my interior color scheme.
According to Weather.com concentration of pollen grains in the air this week are very high and will be increasing even further into the extremely high range.
The predominant pollen out there is tree pollen mainly from pine, oak, birch, cedar, juniper and maple trees. Based on past pollen counts and expected weather conditions, pollen levels for Monday will be increasing over the pollen levels on Sunday and continue to rise. Since the weather has a major influence on pollen dispersal, the cause for the rising pollen levels is higher temperatures and the lower dew point.
ALLERGY FACTS
The medical community has traditionally thought that allergy and asthma attacks are typically not caused directly by exposure to pollen alone, since particles needs to be small enough to actually enter the lungs in order to bring on symptoms, and pollen tends to be just over the threshold in size to meet this requirement.
Pine pollen (the thick yellow stuff) is so heavy that it usually falls to the ground rather than being carried in the wind. Because of this, pine pollen is usually not aspirated like the lighter wind-borne pollens that cause allergic reactions.
If you experience sneezes and wheezes when pine pollen covers the cars and sidewalks, it may be that other plant pollens are causing your symptoms. Oak, hickory, Bermuda grass, fescue grass and ragweed are more likely to cause an allergic reaction or hay-fever than the yellow stuff.
But it’s still ugly.
Information from weather.com & weather.weatherbug.com
