April 28, 2016
allergies, allergy, allergy symptoms, Dr. Donald Dvorin, local pollen count, oak tree pollen, pollen, pollen count, spring, The Asthma Center, tree pollen

“When I saw the air samples, I knew tree pollen would be down. It was that obvious.” Dr. Dvorin reports as he finished counting today’s air sample. Unfortunately, even with a drop in volume, Tree Pollen remains in the very high range.

“Volume is never the whole story with pollen—we know the process of pollen production is disturbed by weather changes like rain and or falling temperatures, “ explained Dr. Dvorin. “Take today’s count for example: the kinds of pollen matter. In other words, what is actually in the air plays a role during the height of the season, and why local air samples provide crucial information. ”

Tree pollen today is very high. In the Delaware Valley, tree pollen counts of 60-999 pollen grains per cubic meter of air in a 24 hours period are very high and may cause moderate to severe symptoms. Compared to yesterday tree pollen count, overall volume fell between 50-55%.

Oak Tree Pollen continues to dominate the count; however, variation was noted today between The Asthma Center’s suburban (Mount Laurel, NJ) air sample versus the urban air sample (Philadelphia, PA-Collection Station Pictured Above). In the suburban air sample, Oak Tree pollen accounted for approximately 84% of all tree pollen and continues the trend seen in the air samples from both collection stations over the last several days. Of note, in today’s Philadelphia air sample Oak tree pollen comprised only a little more than 50% of the overall tree pollen count.

In The Asthma Center’s Philadelphia, PA pollen count, Mulberry tree pollen increased in both volume and as percentage, comprising nearly 35% of the overall tree pollen in the urban air sample today. (Don’t miss Dr. Dvorin’s commentary on “Street Tree Mulberry” in the Delaware Valley.) Birch Tree pollen was a distant third in the Philadelphia pollen count. Mulberry and Birch tree pollen tie for second place in the Mount Laurel, NJ pollen count, together account for close to 10% of the air sample. Today’s grass pollen counts are low, and outdoor mold spores remain high.

What’s Ahead?

It’s raining in the Delaware Valley, and more rain is in the forecast from now through Monday.

For allergy and asthma sufferers, it’s the not the forecasts that matter, but “what’s in the air.”

When asked about “pollen forecasts” which are popular in the news and online today, Dr. Dvorin warns with a smile “Take them with a grain, a grain of salt that is, not a pollen grain.”

“That’s because there is no published, scientifically validated model for pollen forecasting,” Dr. Dvorin explains.   The accuracy and statistical correlation of pollen counts with pollen forecasts has never been proven. “That’s why I collect and count the local pollen and mold spores for New Jersey and Pennsylvania—so that we can all know “what’s in the air!”

Be sure to check back in for The Asthma Center’s daily Pollen and Mold Spore Count, the Delaware Valley’s only Official count station which is certified by the National Allergy Bureau. Subscribe to receive our daily counts by email or check out some of our other blog posts to learn more about what is in the air, how it can affect you, and what you can do about it.

What Can You Do?

1. Be proactive—know what triggers your symptoms (allergy skin testing) and limit or avoid exposure. This is the strategy The Asthma Center’s board certified Allergists employ to help patients get relief.

2. If you’re on medications to manage your allergies, don’t stop taking them because it rains or temperatures are cooler. With allergies, if you stop taking your medications and then suddenly have more exposure to a trigger (like Tree Pollen levels re-surging when things dry out), your allergy symptoms may even be worse.

Get Relief-Saturday appointments are available!

The best way to manage your allergies is to find out exactly what’s causing your symptoms. The Asthma Center has 9 locations in PA & NJ with the following Saturday hours in addition to our normal Monday – Friday business hours.

• May 7 and May 14: the Mount Laurel, NJ location will be seeing patients.

• May 14 and June 4: the Langhorne, PA office will be seeing patients.