High Pollen Counts, Warm Temperatures Lead To Allergy Symptoms For Green Country Residents

People across Green Country are feeling the brunt of an unusually early and intense allergy season.

Stacia and Travis are tracking soaring pollen counts brought on by warmer temperatures earlier this year and that means Green Country is also getting an early start getting greener.

Lush greenery and vibrant landscapes are starting to make an appearance across Green Country which also means a notable spike in allergy symptoms.

Chief Meteorologist Travis Meyer says pollen counts are surging earlier than usual catching many allergy sufferers off guard

"February is notorious for kind of getting trees growing because it starts to warm up enough and then down in Texas, they're also warming up,” Meyer said.

"That kicks off the season. That's why people start going 'what's going on? It's so cold,' or ‘I have allergies and I shouldn't be cause nothing's green.’”

Cedar Trees and a few blooming plants are starting to add some color, but even though the pollen isn't covering cars, yet, Travis says it's already in the air, and a lot of it is coming from outside of Oklahoma.

"The worst days are usually the windy days that are drier because that allows pollen to take off and flow across the land. In fact, a lot of our pollen does come from Texas,” Meyer said.

And if there's anyone to blame for an intense, long, and early allergy season…

"The groundhog has everything to do with it,” Meyer laughed. “It's supposed to be cold and freezing and that's not helping us out right now. It's too warm.”

One thing that can help clear out some of that pollen is rain and Stacia Knight is tracking when we can expect to see some across the Osage Casino Skycam Network.