Friday, April 9, 2010

Have You Been Sniffling and Sneezing? If So, You're Not Alone

The pollen count has been and will continue to remain high over the next few weeks as flowers and trees are in full bloom.

Considering the fact we are in the Texas Forest Country, we are surrounded by trees and lots of them.

The breezy conditions we have seen only irritate us allergy sufferers as it blows the pollen around, allowing it to accumulate on your vehicles. The wind is not the only thing that is leading to the higher than normal pollen count.

Warm temperatures also ignite the pollen count, making us sneeze even more.

At one point early in the week, we had around 2500 -3,000 particles per cubic meter. Think about that for a second. If you had a fish tank in 1x1x1 meter tank, that is how many particles of unhealthy air you would be consuming. In general, it only takes just 200-300 particles per cubic meter for a person with mild allergies to be affected.

This count is eight times more than what is needed to trigger an allergy sufferer. No wonder why you and I keep rubbing our nose.

There is some good news to report as of today. The pollen count has gone from extremely high down to medium, due in large part to the rain we saw on Wednesday night as storms rumbled through East Texas.

While the rain helped alleviate the pollen, it won't keep the levels down for too long. By this weekend, the windy, warm, and dry conditions will raise the pollen count back up into the high levels.

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