Every year, around one in five of us suffer from hay fever. That is over 16 million people in the UK and the problem is said to be getting worse as each summer passes.
According to Natasha Allergy Research Foundation, the number of people living with allergies in the UK is rising by 5% every year. Between May and June of this year, perhaps many of us were struggling with itchy eyes, runny noses and headaches due to hay fever.
Although the grass pollen season has passed its peak, weed pollen is fast upon us, causing some of us to experience the same symptoms we had a few months back. Weed pollen includes nettle, mugwort and pellitory-of-the-wall.
Read more: The Met Office and BBC Weather forecasts for the Bank Holiday weekend
This week, the pollen count is particularly high in Wales on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The pollen count is also high in England, while the threat remains low in Scotland and moderate in Northern Ireland.
According to the Met Office, weather conditions affect how much pollen is released and spread around. On humid and windy days, pollen spreads easily but on rainy days, pollen can be cleared from the air. On sunny days, the pollen count is highest in the early evening and that's when you are most likely to suffer from hay fever symptoms.
Any rainfall causes a marked decrease in pollen concentration in the air, but the time and amount that it rains during the day is very important. Early, heavy and prolonged rain is likely to keep counts low all day, according to the Met Office, whereas rain in the afternoon will have less of an impact.
The combination of high pollen counts and wet weather creates a phenomenon called "thunder fever" or "thunderstorm asthma". This happens when moisture brought by the storm breaks down the pollen, which is normally too large to enter the lungs, into tiny pieces.
Symptoms of hay fever can include sneezing and coughing, runny or blocked nose, itchy, red or watery eyes, loss of smell, headache and earache, to name a few. Although there is currently no cure for hay fever and you cannot prevent it, you can do things to ease your symptoms when the pollen count is high.
You can:
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put Vaseline around your nostrils to trap pollen
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wear wraparound sunglasses to stop pollen from getting into your eyes
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shower and change your clothes after you have been outside to wash pollen off
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stay indoors whenever possible
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keep windows and doors shut as much as possible
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vacuum regularly and dust with a damp cloth
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buy a pollen filter for the air vents in your car and a vacuum cleaner with a HEPA filter
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try to stay at home and avoid contact with other people if you have a high temperature or you do not feel well enough to do your normal activities
It is recommended that you do not:
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cut grass or walk on grass
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spend too much time outside
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keep fresh flowers in the house
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smoke or be around smoke – it makes your symptoms worse
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dry clothes outside – they can catch pollen
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let pets into the house if possible – they can carry pollen indoors
When does the hay fever season end?
Tree pollen typically starts from late March to mid-May, while grass pollen - which has two peaks, lasts from mid-May until July. Weed pollen lasts from the end of June to September.
It should be taken into account however, that hay fever season depends on where you live in the UK as hay fever season will start and end at different times. For example the grass pollen in England and Wales usually starts in the first two weeks of June, with the second, lower peak taking place in the first two weeks of July but then slowly tails off.
These peaks may be masked by how wet, dry, warm or cold it is, as well as the timing of the peaks very much depends on the weather during spring and early summer. Spring rainfall, for example, is key because dry season reduces the amount of pollen production. But despite the weather, pollen is also dependent on how healthy different species are and how well they cope with a mixture of different types in one region.
According to the Met Office, a changing climate will have an impact on pollen patterns in various ways. A changing climate will mean that changes in temperature and rainfall may lengthen the UK pollen season and potentially make pollen concentrations higher.
It's possible that climate change will lead to changes in the potency of pollen - a single pollen particle can have varying amounts of the allergy-causing agent on it. The UK is also facing a threat from changes in the geographical distribution of allergenic plants due to climate change, according to the Met Office, with invasive species such as ambrosia (common ragweed) being on the watch list. A single ragweed plant can produce a billion grains of pollen per season and its pollen causes strong allergic reactions.
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