Something to sneeze at
It’s nice outside. People are taking in the spring days as they come, sauntering along city sidewalks with their dogs or strolling hand in hand with a loved one. It’s the time to soak in the sun and gaze at the blooming trees. But then the nose scrunches up, eyes squeeze shut and — achoo!
Grab the tissues and antihistamines. The spring allergy season is on.
National Jewish Health’s latest pollen count, reported Friday, shows that tree pollen is high in the metro area. Weed and grass pollens are still low, but that’s not unusual as they typically hit in the fall and summer, respectively.
In recent years, the spring allergy season has lengthened as trees have begun pollinating earlier, said Dr. Richard Weber, an allergist at National Jewish Health. On top of that, once-distinct pollen seasons for different tree varieties have started to overlap.
“It’s all getting a little muddy,” he said. “They’re all tending to overlap a little bit more with the times that they’re pollinating.”
Weber attributed the change to climate change, saying that trees in Europe and Japan have similarly started to pollinate earlier and torment people a little bit longer.
Here in the Denver metro area, residents are being hit with a rush of pollen from elms, maples
and cedars. And this year, ash and cottonwood pollens have been showing up at higher levels than typical for this time of year.
The few who are allergic to only specific pollens may not notice a difference, but most allergy sufferers are getting hit with a lot more, Weber said.
And as trees cause scratchy eyes across the metro area, wildfires in the Southwest that are sending smoke into the air aren’t helping.
People taking in the warm weather on Monday may have noticed a haziness in the sky.
Wildfires in Arizona and New Mexico have caused an elevated level of smoke in the air, said Dan Welsh, an air quality meteorologist for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
But it’s not all bad news. The smokerelated particulates largely stayed high up in the atmosphere on Monday, making it noticeable but not having a large influence on the ground, he said. Only people who are particularly sensitive would notice.
A mild weather system is expected to arrive Tuesday afternoon, bringing a wind shift that could clear some smoke out of the area and prevent smoke from flowing in.
Additionally, there’s a possibility of rain.