Recent warm, dry weather kicked up tree pollen in the Willamette Valley. According to Dr. Kraig Jacobson with Oregon Allergy Associates, pollen counts in the Eugene area were in the “very high” range over Easter weekend.
Jacobson said tree pollen can be spread by the wind as early as January, with hazelnuts.
“The peak is right about this time of year,” he told KLCC, “because you have so many pollens occurring all at once.”
Jacobson said oak, cottonwood, alder, and Douglas fir are among the many trees dispersing pollen right now.
He said where you grew up is a factor for allergies.
“What you're exposed to,” he said, “particularly when you're an early teenager or young adult, you can develop sensitivities to.”
He said people raised on the East Coast may react to oak, and someone from this area might have issues with hazelnut pollen, because it’s grown here as a crop.
Jacobson said grass pollen season runs starts in May.
If we have a wetter spring, it will knock the grass pollens down, said Jacobson. But through early July, any series of warm, dry and breezy days can cause very high grass pollen counts.
Jacobson said it’s rare, but an extremely dry spring can prevent grasses from sprouting, which would keep pollen counts low. Because of those factors, he said, future weather conditions matter more than the past, when it comes to the severity of allergy season.
