Oak pollen counts up, but experts say they should decline

If you’re scrubbing a film of yellow gunk off your car windshield while simultaneously wiping and sniffling your nose, you might be suffering from spring allergies — and the major culprit right now: oak pollen.

It’s the time of year when deciduous trees, such as oak, elm and cottonwood, begin flowering and the wind spreads tree pollen, which can appear as a fine residue in the air and on the ground. When it is breathed in, it can cause allergy symptoms.

“The bulk of the people that are allergic to plant allergens are allergic to things that flower in the spring,” said Daphne Richards, a horticulturist with Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service. “What people are allergic to is pollen from plants that are wind-pollinated, so trees and grass” rather than plants like roses.

The latest numbers collected by Allergists of Austin for KXAN-TV on Wednesday showed high oak pollen counts of 1,692 grains per cubic meter and high mold spore counts, which has exacerbated allergy symptoms for sufferers.

So what exactly causes oak pollen allergies and when will it end?

For trees like live oaks, pollination begins in March when warm air causes leaves to drop, and flowers open up to the wind. The breezes carry the pollen from tree to tree to produce acorns. After pollination, the flowers, called catkins, fall from the trees and stack up on the ground, i.e., all the brown remnants you see everywhere under live oaks, meaning the pollen is gone — which is happening now.

The pollen got a boost in recent days from a series of springtime cold fronts that are sweeping through Texas, bringing dry winds from the north and balmy gusts from the Gulf. The area could see more gusty weather on Friday ahead of a brief round of storms.

Is this year worse for oak allergies than normal?

Possibly. Richards said an especially wet and rainy fall season and a longer, colder winter resulted in better flowering conditions for trees this spring.

“That’s what plants are used to,” she said. “We had a good rainy fall last year, which helped plants just as they were going into dormancy.”