Not a good January for hay fever: mild weather means the pollen season starts early

The mild weather around the turn of the year puts pressure on allergy sufferers. Hazel pollen flies through the air unusually early. The Swiss Allergy Center advises those affected to take medicines in time.

The allergy center announced on Tuesday that similar reports had already been received. What is considered a cold may also be hay fever at the moment.

The first hazel pollen was recorded on Dec. 28, Regula Gehrig, a biometeorologist at Meteoschweiz, the Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology, said in the communiqué. North of the Alps, this had happened very rarely at the turn of the year. “By January 2, most MeteoSwiss monitoring stations in the lowlands were already recording moderate pollution values.”

According to the information, the hazel blooms about 20 to 30 days earlier than the average for the years 1990 to 2020. If winter temperatures are low, the start of flowering can even be delayed until March, MeteoSwiss wrote in a blog post on Tuesday. .

According to the Bundesamt, the alder has also started to bloom. Weak to moderate pollen concentrations were recorded here during the New Year’s weekend.

The pollen flight is likely to continue in many places over the next few days. For the hazel to flower, temperatures above five degrees Celsius and some sun were all that was needed, says Gehrig.

Roxane Guillod of the Allergy Center advises allergy sufferers to take precautions: Anyone who reacts to pollen should keep the medication prescribed by their doctor on hand. (sda)