Pollen season is here in Summit County with clouds of yellow pine pollen and puffs of white aspen pollen.
“It really inundates our skies, our parking lots and even our waterscape,” Dan Schroder with the local CSU Extension office tells Krystal 93.
But like a winter powder day it’ll be gone before you know it.
“This only happens for a short period of time,” Schroder continues, saying pollen season this year is just about average. What made it more apparent this past weekend were gusty winds blowing over 30 miles per hour, kicking up clouds of pollen like dust storms.
“Ultimately spring is when pollen emerges from the trees,” Schroder says, noting that spring in the High Country is always a few weeks later than at lower elevations. “This peters out soon because pollination only happens earlier in the year. We can look forward to the pine pollen diminishing.”
Allergy forecast from The Weather Channel shows this is happening already with moderate pine pollen through June 29 and low pine pollen after.
(Tree) Love in the air
Schroder breaks down the science of pollen by explaining how big pines make little pines.
“Pine trees have male and female cones,” he says. “The male cones produce pollen and that’s what we see all around. The other cone, the bigger body on the trees, is the female part of the tree that receives the pollen. This happens in spring so the cone can begin its reproductive process during the (summer) season.”
On aspen trees the white, fluffy pollen is known as “catkins.” Male catkins turn yellow when releasing pollen. Female catkins turn green when pollinated.
One in 20
Luckily for most people, pine pollen won’t set off your allergies. But Schroder is not most people.
“Pollen is something that has always hit me with red runny eyes and nose. It’s just been killer,” Schroder says. “But only about 5% of people are allergic to pine pollen. Most people don’t have a reaction. It’s just kind of a mess.”