The warming spring air is a welcome relief from the bitterly cold winter across much of the US, but millions of seasonal allergy sufferers are getting buried under a pollen tsunami, with sneezing, headaches, watery eyes, and stuffed sinuses sending them right back indoors.

Already, Atlanta has broken its pollen count record, with 14,801 grains per cubic meter spewing from pine, oak, and birch trees. Houston also reported its highest pollen counts since 2013, when records began.

The Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America (AAFA) projects that 2025 will be yet another brutal year for seasonal allergies across the country, with the worst-afflicted cities in the southern US. Your red eyes and runny noses don’t deceive you — seasonal allergies are getting worse, a miserable reality for nearly one in three US adults and one in four children.

Why? Sneezing and sniffles are some of the sirens of climate change. In fact, because of warming, pollen is now a nearly year-round menace in some parts of the US. Pollen, the main seasonal allergy trigger, is emerging earlier in the year, in higher concentrations, and lasting longer year after year. “In the springtime, the first pollen allergens are from trees, and that is starting 20 days earlier than it did 30 years ago,” said Kenneth Mendez, CEO of AAFA. Rising concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are directly inducing plants to produce more pollen while extending the temperature conditions that trigger pollen production in plants.

“We hear all the time, ‘I’ve never had allergies before and now I suddenly feel like I have allergies,’ or ‘I feel like my allergies are getting a lot worse’ and that’s because the allergic load is that much higher because of climate change,” Mendez said.

For most people, seasonal allergies are an unpleasant nuisance. But with millions feeling blergh at the same time, it adds up to a huge economic burden in lost productivity. Asthma, allergic rhinitis — the condition you probably know of as hay fever — and related allergy conditions cost the economy billions of dollars each year in lost work days, medications, and doctor’s visits.

There are also people for whom pollen is a more serious problem and can lead to........

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