Spring has Sprung... and with spring comes allergies

MIDLAND, Texas (KOSA) - It’s that time of the year again, the grass is a little greener, bees are buzzing, the birds are chirping, and allergies pick back up.

Most people look forward to spring because that means the weather is getting nicer and the days are longer.

With all those great perks comes… allergies.

It’s an annoying condition that can cause numerous side effects such as runny nose, a dry throat, itchy eyes and sneezing.

Within the last two weeks it’s been reported that parts of the U.S. have experienced record highs to start the allergy season.

“The pollen count is just starting to go up now. The tree counts just recently went up, so we’re starting off with oak and mulberry which is typical, and it goes up and usually oak counts are the highest. But we’ll get a mixture of other stuff as the spring comes on further” said, Dr. John Bray, Allergist

Allergies can be caused by a wide range of things including dust and pollen.

We all know pollen as that annoying yellow stuff we find on our cars after work and the thing that makes us sneeze and wipe our eyes for weeks on end.

But did you know that yellow stuff on your cars is actually an adult male plant.

“Whenever you think of an adult plant, we normally think of a tree out there growing. But that’s one generation of it is the maturer type plant that we normally think of. But the other type of generation is the pollen. And so it is an adult male plant but if a different type of generation” said Michael Nickell, Museum Scientist and Naturalist at the Sibley Center in Midland

In West Texas Dr. Bray says wind is a major factor when looking at what allergens will be in the area.

“I would suspect the pollen count would actually be down a little bit and but the wind count with the dirt will be up. The dirt is very very important, that’s what really is the main driver of allergies like symptoms and sinus and asthma in West Texas” said Bray.

Hopefully this spring is an easy one for all of us and we don’t have to deal with any allergies.

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