It’s Spring, and Pollen Is Flying Again : But Southland Hay Fever Season Is Relatively Mild, Doctors Say

The pollen is flying again and thousands of Southern Californians are being reminded that they are allergy sufferers.

Pollen, the reproductive dust from trees, lawns and weeds, mixes with mold spores as they drift through the air and right into the eyes of anyone the least bit sensitive to them.

It could be worse. The mild weather in California makes for a relatively long pollen season, but it is not as severe as the rest of the country.

“This is really a hay-fever refuge for people who are allergic to ragweed from the Midwest, East and South,” said Dr. Sidney Friedlaender, a clinical medicine professor from Wayne State University in Detroit. “This is one of the few places in the country where they can get away from it.”

Most folks in mild and dry Southern California have never had to put up with the runny nose, sneezing and stinging eyes that are produced by a good Michigan ragweed crop.

There are, however, other plants that can be just as bad.

Friedlaender was in San Diego recently with his annual pollen prediction for the region. A very average volume of mold spores and pollen from grass, weeds and trees is expected this season, which runs through October.

Growing Worse

The tree pollen season is getting worse, Friedlaender said, because developers are planting decorative trees that are not native to California.

“In general,” he said, “this area, like most parts of the United States, has a tree-pollen season and we are right in the middle of that season.”

The pollen should drop off by June, but species like the Chinese elm will be churning it out all year.

The awakening of dormant lawns is bad news for people allergic to Bermuda grass, which is popular in yards everywhere. Grasses covering the mountains in the area can affect city dwellers miles away, Friedlaender said. The Santa Ana winds can easily carry pollen from the mountains to the city.

“Grasses can pollinate year ‘round, although this is about the beginning of the (period) when it starts to increase,” said Friedlaender, who said more Southern Californians are allergic to grass pollen than any other pollen.

The brush that feeds the state’s annual range fires also produces irritating pollen. Friedlaender said that the pollen can be even more bothersome if mixed with brush fire smoke.