If you thought your pollen allergies were bad already, it’s about to get worse.
That’s the word from Dr. Leonard Bielory, an allergist, immunologist and researcher in New Jersey who studies pollen trends and treatments.
“The pollen storm is beginning,” Bielory told NJ Advance Media Tuesday morning. “If you go out to your car now, you can draw the word pollen.”
Bielory said the first phase of this year’s allergy season — tree pollen — started a few days earlier than usual in New Jersey in March, but the string of cool and rainy days slowed the production of the yellow powdery substance. With warmer and drier weather kicking in the past few days, tree pollen counts are soaring quickly.
The pollen count is the actual number of pollen grains floating in a cubic meter of air during a 24-hour period. A tree pollen count of 50 or lower is generally considered low or moderate, depending on which scale is used, and a count of 1,500 or greater is considered very high or extreme.
The current pollen counts “are in the hundreds now, and they will be in the thousands in a couple of weeks,” Bielory said, which means the amount of pollen in the air and on the ground will be about 10 times worse than it is right now.
Bielory, a researcher at Hackensack Meridian School of Medicine and member of the Kean University Center for Aerobiological Research, said several factors impact the production of pollen, and right now all those factors are coming together to boost the numbers.
“Plants don’t like to reproduce in the cold. They wait for nutrients, they wait for the proper sunlight, the duration of sunlight, and (warmer) temperature,” Bielory said. “When all these things happen, the pollination begins, and it’s been starting quite strongly.”
“As much as it’s nice outside, the ground is moist (from all the recent rain) and that provides nutrients for plants to reproduce,” he noted. That means more pollen flying around and making scores of allergy sufferers sneeze and wheeze.
Tree pollen isn’t the only thing making New Jerseyans suffer. Grass pollen season starts in the middle of May to early June, and then ragweed season ramps up in the middle of August.
Forecasters from AccuWeather have predicted a rough year for allergy sufferers, saying they expect very high pollen levels during the early phase of allergy season — the tree pollen — and the later phase — ragweed and other weeds.
Tips for allergy sufferers
Bielory said his patients have had good success with a non-prescription nasal spray called Sinusol, which he described as “a new holistic treatment for allergies.”
Here are some other tips, offered by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America:
- Start taking allergy medicine before pollen season begins. This allows the medicine to prevent your body from releasing histamine and other chemicals that cause your symptoms.
- Limit your outdoor activities when pollen counts are high. This will lessen the amount of pollen allergen you inhale and reduce your symptoms.
- Keep car windows and house windows closed during pollen season and use central air conditioning with clean filters.
- Bathe and shampoo your hair daily before going to bed. This will remove pollen from your hair and skin and keep it off your bedding.
- Wear sunglasses and a hat when outside. This will help keep pollen out of your eyes and off your hair.
- Limit close contact with pets that spend a lot of time outdoors.
- Change and wash the clothes you have worn during outdoor activities.
- Dry your clothes in a clothes dryer, not on an outdoor line.
- Wash your bed sheets, blankets and pillow covers in hot, soapy water once a week.
Stories by Len Melisurgo
- 7 new mini earthquakes in N.J., boosting total number of aftershocks to 70
- Another bright fireball spotted in night sky over N.J., N.Y., Pa.
- Lyrid meteor shower, first major meteor outburst of spring, to peak in April
Thank you for relying on us to provide the local news you can trust. Please consider supporting NJ.com with a voluntary subscription.
Len Melisurgo may be reached at LMelisurgo@njadvancemedia.com or on X at @LensReality.
If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.
