Americans may find themselves sneezing, wiping their noses, and even suffering asthma attacks more often in the coming decades.
Warming global temperatures and rising carbon dioxide levels could intensify the pollen season in the US. A study published in the journal Nature Communications on Tuesday shows that the pollen season could begin up to 40 days earlier and last up to 15 days later by the end of the century. The amount of pollen could increase by as much as 200%.
According to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, this is bad news for 19.2 million US adults and 5.2 million children who suffer from hay fever.
Patrick Kinney, an environmental health professor at Boston University School of Public Health, who was not involved in the study, told NBC News that allergies and asthma are related.
The pollen season is getting longer. In the last three decades, it has been lengthened by about 20 days, with a 21% increase in the amount of pollen.
A growing body of research warns that the trend will continue.
The warmer weather causes various plants and trees to produce pollen. When baseline temperatures go up, they cause a lot of pollen bursts in the year.
When warm temperatures last longer into the fall, the season for ragweed is extended. Plants can produce more pollen if the atmosphere has higher levels of carbon dioxide.
The University of Michigan atmospheric scientist and graduate student ran computer models on 15 of the most common North American pollens with projected changes in temperature and precipitation. The models showed how the factors might affect the production of pollen. They compared the estimates to the actual data.
Maple is the first tree to produce pollen in the Northeast, followed by oak and cottonwood. Some of the pollen seasons were shown to stretch into each other as warmer temperatures cause them to last longer.
The misery for people with allergies could be increased by such overlap seasons.
Climate change is making respiratory allergies worse, according to a press release.
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