Austin's Allergies Worsen Due to Cedar, Oak, Mold and Rain

If you've been sneezing this spring, you're not alone. Cedar fever lasted longer and oak pollen started earlier than normal this year. May has been unusually bad for allergies in the Austin area, with symptoms including puffy, itchy, watery eyes; a drippy or congested nose; an itchy throat; headache and fatigue. Austin never gets a break from allergies thanks to year-round mold, but this year cedar fever kept going into March and even April, with higher-than-usual pollen counts for the mountain ashe juniper trees much later in the year. April had higher-than-normal rainfall, giving oak trees a chance to up their pollen production and spread a blanket of yellow pollen all over Austin. Rain can temporarily wash away the pollen, but it also gives the pollen producers new strength to create more pollen to blow around in the coming days. Rain also feeds the mold, and in the next week, both tree pollen counts and mold counts will rise. Austin allergist Dr. Ramya Balijepally encourages people to get tested for allergies even if they know they have them, as patients might think they are allergic to something because everyone else seems to be allergic to it, but it could be something else that occurs around the same time. Summer can bring some relief, which makes it a great time to do allergy testing, but summer grass allergies are coming, with grasses producing worse allergies if we have rain, allowing the grasses to grow. Once summer grass season ends, Austin will go into the fall trees-and-weeds allergy season before returning to cedar fever season in December.