Fall Allergy Season

The weather is slowly cooling and the leaves are changing. So why are you still sneezing? You are not alone. Thirty-million Americans suffer from fall allergies that are triggered by different things than spring allergies but can make you just as miserable.

The biggest allergy trigger in the fall is RAGWEED which starts to release its potent pollen as early as late August in some areas of the US and can continue into November. Imagine – a single ragweed plant can produce up to 1 billion grains of pollen per season. About 75% of people allergic to spring plants also have reactions to ragweed.
Amazingly, even if ragweed does not grow where you live, its pollen can be carried on the wind for hundreds of miles.
Another fall allergy trigger is mold. Mold spores thrive in damp areas inside and outside homes. In the fall, piles of damp leaves are a major breeding grounds for mold. You can avoid issues by raking fallen leaves and remove leaves from gutters.

And you may think your allergies are bad now, but climate scientists say it could get much worse in the future. European researchers predict warming temperatures could greatly extend the ragweed season and make the weed’s pollen into an even more potent allergen, according to a recent study.

After calculating the impact climate change would have on ragweed, they determined that in Europe, the number of people suffering from hay fever or seasonal allergies due to the weed’s pollen might double over the next 35 years and for those who are already allergic to ragweed, symptoms are predicted to worsen.
They say there very well could be a similar impact in the U. S. where ragweed is widespread and the weed’s pollen appears to become an even more potent allergen.