SAN ANTONIO -- The windy weather we've been having has been kicking up all sorts of things, but you might be surprised to learn that it's not kicking up allergens.
"All this wind is coming in between allergy seasons," Dr. Paul Ratner with Sylvana Research told us.
Mountain Cedar trees stopped producing pollen back in January, and oak hasn't started producing it's pollen yet. However, this break from allergens will be brief.
"You can look at the trees right now and see can see they're beginning to lose their leaves," said Dr. Ratner. "And in about 10 to 14 days after they loose their leaves, they'll start producing pollen."
Oak season normally begins right around now.
"Typically we'll start to see oak pollen at the beginning of March," Ratner explained. "It peaks between mid- March and mid-April and tapers off by the beginning of May."
This upcoming season is expected to be a pretty heavy oak season. The rain we had this past Fall has helped the trees, and the drought we're in is not as bad as the drought we had 2 years ago.
Oak is the second worst pollen producer here, right behind Mountain Cedar.
Something new Dr. Ratner is working on is helping children who suffer from oak allergies. If you have a child between 6 and 11 years of age and would like to take part in his study, you can call Sylvana Research at 614-6673. He's taking both children and adults who suffer from Oak allergies.
Spring (Oak) allergy studies for both:
- Children 6-11 years of age
- Adults and Adolescents 12 and older
- History of Spring allergy symptoms of runny nose,sneezing or congestion
