Ragweed is seen on the property of environmental health scientist David Carpenter on Tuesday, Aug. 19, 2014 in Guilderland, N.Y.(Photo by Lori Van Buren/Albany Times Union via Getty Images)
About a quarter of Americans suffer from seasonal allergies. And researchers at the nonprofit Climate Central say that if you’re feeling snifflier than normal this spring, you aren’t alone—and climate change and pollution might be behind your personal postnasal drip.
In 173 of the 198 cities Climate Central studied, the freeze-free growing season (that is, the time of year when plants are capable of, among other things, producing pollen) lengthened by an average of 21 days since 1970. In some places, like Nashville, the freeze-free growing season is now a full month longer than it used to be, and one 2022 study suggests that by the end of the century, it’ll be two months longer than it is now. And as climate change causes more-frequent extreme weather events, like hurricanes, that also means more mold and more respiratory distress.
On top of all that, thanks to changes in temperature and rainfall, some plant species, like ragweed, are moving north, and exposing people to new allergens—which means that some of us who haven’t experienced allergies before might experience symptoms for the first time this year.
“That means more patients are reacting to more plant species, for longer,” immunologist Rebecca Saff recently wrote in Harvard’s Climate Brief. “Even people with historically mild seasonal allergies are noticing sharper symptom peaks, and medications that once kept things under control are not working as well as they once did.”
So, what can the watery-eyed, scratchy-throated masses do? Saff suggests starting to take your allergy medications earlier in the year than you normally would, since your spring and fall symptomatic periods might not be so predictable anymore. She also recommends using the National Allergy Bureau’s dashboard to get accurate data on allergen levels in your area. Stock up on that Zyrtec.
