In 20 Years, Pollen Season Has Lenghtened By 3 Weeks, Pollen Concentrations Up By 20%

[hatrack]

If you head to Georgia, you will find sprawling southern live oak trees older than the Declaration of Independence. Often adorned in Spanish moss, the evergreen mammoths are featured in postcards and movies as a symbol of the South. Of course, you may not notice the impressive attributes of Georgia’s state tree through the bouts of sneezing, coughing and itchy eyes they also famously cause with their pollen.

“Patients, sometimes when they have significant allergies to the pollen, tell me that they just can’t function. They feel run down. They don’t have the energy they used to have,” said Stanley Fineman, a physician at Atlanta Allergy & Asthma, one of the largest allergy practices in Georgia.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php?src=&w=691
Pollen blanketing a car. (Stanley Fineman)

EDIT

Across the country, pollen season is starting earlier and intensifying because of rising global temperatures and carbon dioxide concentrations. Previous research showed that pollen season lengthened by 20 days over the past three decades across North America, while pollen concentrations increased by 21 percent. The most affected places were the U.S. Southeast and Midwest. And a recent study said pollen season could get much worse by the end of the century. Pollen season could start as much as 40 days earlier in the spring and last up to 19 days longer than it does today under a high greenhouse gas emission scenario. Pollen levels could also triple in some parts of the United States.

“When we look at what’s driving a lot of the duration in season change, temperature plays a big role,” said Allison Steiner, co-author of the study and an atmospheric scientist at the University of Michigan. Warmer temperatures can shift the growing season earlier and extend it longer, as well as help plants produce more pollen. Higher levels of carbon dioxide can also aid photosynthesis so plants produce more pollen, although more research is needed to understand the future increase.

EDIT

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2022/03/29/pollen-climate-change-worse-future/

[getagrip_already]

1. As a bee keeper... I say bring it......

Although the pollens that vex most allergy sufferers are not used by pollinators such as bees. The lighter airborne pollens don't have a good protein balance and bees tend to ignore it unless there is nothing else to gather.

Bees prefer the stickier, heavier pollens. Which is as nature intended it since airborne pollens don't need bees to find flowers.

And no, I'm not advocating climate change as positive.