As of: February 21, 2024, 12:34 p.m
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People with hay fever can already tell from their watery eyes or runny nose: the pollen season has begun.
Fulda/Berlin - Many allergy sufferers' noses began to itch as early as January, and the pollen season is now in full swing.
“The alder tree began to experience heavy stress very early in February,” said Matthias Werchan from the German Pollen Information Service Foundation (PID).
According to the landscape ecologist, poplar, yew, elm and cypress trees are also already blooming.
Pollen season has begun: the consequences of climate change are affecting allergy sufferers
Graduate meteorologist Dominik Jung also confirms this development: “Nature is three weeks ahead of its time.
Allergy sufferers in particular notice this. There is a lot of pollen in the air.” Alder and hazel are already starting to bloom, “willow, elm and poplar are just getting started,” says Jung.
The first pollen is already flying in the Fulda region.
“My neighbor's hazelnuts are blooming and wild garlic is already in the starting blocks in my own garden,” reports qualified meteorologist Oliver Reuter from Eiterfeld-Körnbach in an interview with fuldaerzeitung.de.
He recently received a picture that shows that the forsythia has already begun to bloom - “that is one of the earliest blooms ever!”
Reuter cites the persistently mild weather as the reason for the early pollen season.
“We had one of, if not the warmest February on record.
This of course has an effect on the plants, which are far ahead of their intended target due to the amount of heat in their flowering,” he explains.
This will continue in the coming weeks, which will result in more and more plants blooming and releasing pollen into the air.
“It's just crazy.
Two or three years ago, things looked different.
February brought cold again.”
Tips for hay fever
According to Torsten Zuberbier from Ecarf (European Center for Allergy Research Foundation), allergies are among the most common chronic diseases worldwide.
“Unlike other medical problems, we can help with allergies,” says the expert.
Those affected can use nasal sprays, eye drops and tablets to combat the symptoms.
Immunotherapy addresses the cause with injections or tablets (hyposensitization).
In order to reduce the symptoms, according to Zuberbier, it would also help to make the greening of cities more allergy-friendly.
Urban greenery is important, but new plantings should avoid pollen-producing trees such as birch trees.
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But the early flowering also brings with it a danger, as Reuter notes: “If there was another frost at the end of March or beginning of April, which would be quite normal, the plants could suffer frost damage.”
According to Matthias Werchan, although the hazel pollen count had already begun at the turn of the year and is sometimes producing high levels of dust, one cannot speak of an early start, according to Matthias Werchan.
“It's almost the rule that hazels bloom at Christmas time.” In the past, the winter months were considered a break for allergy sufferers.
Pollen - such as that of hazel - flies through the air as early as February.
© Wolfgang Kumm/dpa
Experts are now observing that, due to climate change, the times when the last pollen of the previous season disappears and the first of the new season appear almost overlap.
According to the PID expert, the only respite left for allergy sufferers is November.
Climate change: breathing space for pollen allergy sufferers is shrinking
Because of climate change and the resulting longer pollen season, allergy sufferers basically have symptoms all year round, according to the director of environmental medicine at Augsburg University Hospital, Claudia Traidl-Hoffmann.
The fact that climate change is bringing new plants and thus new pollen and new allergies to Germany could also become a burden.
According to the doctor, the development is particularly a problem for severe asthmatics and older people.
“But of course our children in particular suffer terribly from this.” Anyone who constantly sneezes or feels exhausted has a harder time concentrating at school.
According to a survey by the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), which took place from 2008 to 2011, around 15 percent of Germans suffer from hay fever and almost nine percent from bronchial asthma.
According to the RKI, the frequency of allergic diseases has increased significantly in countries with a Western lifestyle since the 1970s and has stabilized at a high level.
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