Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - With warmer weather comes the inevitable spread of pollen, and for those with allergies, another season of watery, itchy, red eyes and lots of sneezing.
So what are we in for this year?
"I'm going to have to say, generally, worse than previously," says Dr. Stanley Schwartz from the University at Buffalo and the Buffalo VA. "We really are in a period of climate change, and we have been seeing higher pollen counts, earlier onset of the pollen season, longer persistence of the pollen season."
Schwartz says the nicer weather we've experienced can help the production of pollen in, what he calls, the little flowers we don't see.
How long the season lasts will depend on several factors, according to Schwartz.
"How many warm days we have, and if spring comes on us warm and early and in fall when the killing frost comes on late, all during that growing period when the the temperatures are favorable for plants to grow," he said.
"The tree flowers can come out much sooner, and then at the end of the season, it's the weeds - particularly things like ragweed - they don't stop pollinating until the first killing frost. And if that frost is delayed, if we get it well into November. That, too, is going to lengthen the season."
Schwartz says there's no way to foretell whether this is going to happen, but the chances are increased that we're going to have a longer season.
"If we have a nice, warm and fairly dry summer, the dryness favors pollination. The air gets filled with pollen, and that too can make it not only longer, but more intense, worse," Schwartz added.
Meteorologist Andy Parker says we don't have much to worry about, at least this week.
"It looks like we're going to see this warm up for the next six or seven days, and that is going to start to trigger, at least, the snow melt. But probably not enough to really fire everything up over the next few days," said Parker with WBEN.
"What we're going to find is the air that comes up is coming from an area down in the lower Ohio and Tennessee Valley, where they already have a lot of stuff in bloom, so people might notice a temporary increase in allergies. But then following that, we're going to find northerly air coming back in that should bring us back down to winter time levels, really, for the remainder of the month."
What can you do to deal with allergies? Schwartz has a couple of suggestions.
"Fluticasone nasal spray over the counter, and that's the standard of care. Two sprays each nostril, once and even sometimes twice a day, should be the start. After that, there are a lot of other other things that can be added, eye drops for it," Schwartz said.
Allergy shots would be the last resort, but he says it's too late in the season for that.