Allergies Bloom Early With Warm Winter

By Nick Foley, CAPITAL NEWS SERVICE

An uncharacteristically warm winter has caused tree pollen to spread earlier than in past years, sending scores into allergy-induced misery, according to Howard County Health Officer Peter Beilenson.

"We've seen a huge increase in the number of people complaining of allergies," Beilenson said. "It's certainly much worse than the typical March," he said of last month's reports.

After winter temperatures routinely rested above the normal temperatures in the 30s and 40s and spiked at 80, tree pollen in the Baltimore-Washington area started blooming the third week of February and pollen counts soared, according to Susan Kosisky, microbiologist at the U.S. Army Centralized Allergen Extract Lab in Silver Spring.

In the third week of March, Kosisky found pollen counts of more than twice the average. Oak, maple, cedar, sycamore, ash, mulberry, birch and cottonwood trees are the culprits, she said.

Warmer-than-average temperatures are expected to persist throughout the spring months, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, suggesting these trees will continue yielding significant pollen counts.

"We just had some of the early pollinating trees coming out a lot earlier," Kosisky said. "Anytime you have high pollen counts, folks who are sensitive to the species that are pollinating will most likely react....Folks are sneezing and sniffling."

Cold, damp weather, which stifles pollen from blooming, has been scarce this winter, she added. Rainfall totals for March were two inches below normal, according to the Washington Post's Capital Weather Gang.

"Every season we see the same number of people who are miserable, but we're seeing them a lot earlier now," said Dr. Jiun Yoon, an allergist at the Allergy and Asthma Care Center in Rockville. "Typically, we don't see a big rush of patients probably toward mid-to-end (of) April."

While Yoon said he thought the season might end a little sooner, grass pollen season, which typically peaks in the summer, will take its place. He suggested sufferers take showers and keep windows closed to eliminate the spread of pollen indoors.