If you are like me, this time of year brings a lot of sneezing, itchy eyes, and coughing as the “pollening” begins. It usually starts with tree pollen like pine and oak and then switches to flowers, grass, and other plant pollens. As the earth’s temperature gets warmer, we are seeing changes to the growing season, the plant hardiness zones, and other indicators that are linked to the seasons. This includes when the peak pollen occurs. This year, the cold January delayed the development of the early pollen-bearing plants, but one we hit the warmer February, all the pollen came out at once, resulting in record-setting pollen loads in places like Atlanta. This article from Time goes into more detail about how the changing climate is affecting not only the timing of pollen but also the amounts produced.
You can see the Atlanta daily pollen counts at https://www.atlantaallergy.com/pollen_counts.
