Pollen setting records this spring

This spring we’ve seen pollen everywhere. The yellow stuff has been giving people across the area fits, but is it worse than usual?

It’s difficult to find a white car in any parking lots here in the Port City. Every one is tainted yellow, covered in pollen.

It’s one of the worst pollen seasons in several years. Allergy specialists in Wilmington say this is the worst season for pollen since 1997. Pollen counts of 9,000 grains per cubic centimeter were recorded yesterday. The normal, is 1,500, but the yellow film on your cars is not causing your sniffles. That’s pine pollen, too big to stay airborne for long. Instead it’s oak and other trees causing the problems.

A combination of factors have made this the perfect pollen season.

“It was a wet year last year, and that’s good for pollen production, it was a cold winter, which held everything up, but then all of a sudden it’s been pretty nice,” John Wooldridge, a horticulturist with the New Hanover County Cooperative Extension, said. “We haven’t had any frost that would knock down the pollen count and haven’t had rain in the past few weeks that would also knock down the pollen count.”

Rain helps drastically lower the pollen count by making the pollen heavy, dropping it to the ground. The good news is rain is in the forecast for tonight and early tomorrow.

The bad news? It doesn’t just end with trees. Grass pollens enter the air in late spring, followed by ragweed in the late summer. These seasons could be high as well.