The Bay Area’s unseasonably warm weather may feel good, but it has triggered early blooms and an early allergy season.
Have you noticed all the trees in bloom? Pollen in January is not good news for lots of people with allergies.
“They just feel like they have a minor cold all of the time,” Advanced Allergy Solutions’ Denise Wood said. “That is a typical allergy person.”
At Advanced Allergy Solutions in San Francisco, clinicians say so many patients are looking for holistic treatment, it feels like spring instead of winter.
“We're getting an increase in seasonal allergy sufferers who would be suffering in spring time, and now they are suffering in January,” Wood said.
Blame it on the unseasonably warm weather and lack of rain.
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Trees are blooming. With nothing but blue sky and blossoms in the forecast, Wood says spring-like allergy triggers are here to stay.
“Without the rain pulling everything to the ground, we're having increases of particulate matter in the air on top of warm weather and plants producing more pollen,” Wood said.
Wood says, if you have cold symptoms but your energy is high, you probably have allergies.
Kendra Smallwood is not looking forward to an extended allergy season.
“I still want to go out and do the things I normally do, but having sneezing and congested-feeling, I really don't like it,” Smallwood said.
Michael Flores is already visiting his medicine cabinet.
“My energy is fine, but I have noticed if I take a Benadryl at night it helps,” Flores said. “So I might have to bust out the allergy medicine early this year.”
Winds are increasing the pollen’s impact. NBC Bay Area meteorologist Jeff Ranieri says moderate pollen levels will continue to be an issue for allergy sufferers all over the Bay Area through the weekend.
