- New data prove allergy season is getting longer and stronger
- Allergy season has extended in recent decades in more than 85% of U.S. cities
- pollen counts have surged by more than 21 percent since 1990
Millions of hayfever sufferers will have a tough summer as new data shows that the allergy season is getting longer and pollen counts are skyrocketing.
Many people feel that their allergies are getting worse each year, and data has been released to back it up.
Pollen counts continue to soar, increasing 21% nationwide from 1990 to 2018. According to a 2021 study.
And according to new data from Climate Centralpeople are suffering longer, with the allergy season extending an average of 15 days in more than 200 cities between 1970 and 2021.
With the West Coast city’s allergy season extended by 99 days, people in Reno, Nevada, will have to endure their pollen aversion for even longer.
The duration of the sneezing season was analyzed by marking the number of days from the last freeze of each spring to the first freeze of each autumn.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, long-term exposure to pollen can have a significant impact on the health of those affected by seasonal hay fever, with approximately 26 percent of adults and 19 percent of children exposed to pollen. suffer from illness.
In addition to the expected symptoms such as sneezing and watery eyes, untreated allergies can lead to problems such as life-threatening anaphylaxis.
Reno topped the list of cities with the longest “freeze-free” period, but more than 30 other subways also extended their freeze periods by more than a month.
The hardest hit were Bend, Oregon and Las Cruces, New Mexico, which extended their allergy seasons by 83 days and 73 days, respectively.
Of the 203 cities analyzed, a staggering 85% extended the ice-free season, with the western region most affected at 27 days.
Climate Central commented on the data, “Earlier spring and longer frost-free days means more time for plants to flower and release allergy-causing pollen.”
However, some regions have relatively shortened allergy seasons, and the data is good news for some hayfever sufferers.
Denver, Colorado and Waco, Texas both reduced the “freeze protection” period by 15 days, and Great Falls, Montana, by 10 days.
In particular, some areas of the Deep South and California have not experienced the same freezing season as the rest of the country and are therefore excluded from the data.
While people are exposed to longer seasons, allergy sufferers are also plagued by ever-increasing amounts of pollen. The largest increases in pollen were recorded in the Midwest and Texas, where the national average increased by a whopping 21%.
