The Pollen Trap: Seasonal Allergies Are Getting Worse — This Tech Could Help

View guidelines for use of these broadcast-ready news packages.

Click here for the full media package

BY BEN TRACY, SENIOR CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT ON ASSIGNMENT FOR CLIMATE CENTRAL

For Kristin Klein, the first days of spring in Raleigh-Durham aren't marked by the beauty of blooming flowers, but by the arrival of a thick, yellow coating of pollen dust. For her, and for millions of others, the seasonal shift has become a grueling endurance test.

“When your eyes are almost swollen shut, it’s a problem,” Klein says. Her symptoms have become so aggressive that she recently found herself at the Duke Health Allergy Clinic, preparing for her first round of allergy shots which should bolster her immune system and provide long-term relief. 

Klein says every year her allergies seem to be getting worse and she can blame climate change for some of her misery. As temperatures rise, allergy season is arriving earlier and lasting longer. Data from Climate Central reveals a startling trend: since 1970, 87% of analyzed U.S. cities have seen their growing seasons expand by an average of three weeks. That means trees and plants simply have more time to produce more allergens. 

“We are seeing patients come in earlier since pollen seasons are starting earlier and patient symptoms are more severe than they have been in the past,” explains Dr. Sarah Johnson of Duke Health. 

Despite this growing problem, the way we track pollen is stuck in the past. The "pollen counts" featured on most smartphone apps rely on fewer than 50 collection sites nationwide. Pollen particles are trapped on a sticky tape inside cylinders which are hand collected each week. The particles are then counted under a microscope. It’s a method that hasn’t seen a significant upgrade since the 1950s.

“Realistically that’s not very accurate,” says Tate Commission, a student researcher at Duke University.

The "R2D2" of the Forest

Deep in the woods of North Carolina, Commission and his fellow researchers from Duke are working to bring allergy forecasting into the 21st century. They are deploying a device that looks less like a weather tool and more like a slighter sibling of the robot R2D2 in Star Wars. 

“It’s sending lasers in every direction back and forth,” Commission explains as the team ducks out of the way after turning on the high-tech laser scanner. In just minutes it takes a collection of photos that builds a high-definition 3D map of the tree canopy capturing individual branches, leaves, and the pollen-producing flowers responsible for that yellow haze on our windshields.

“The smallest detail you can see from this machine,” adds researcher Ivy Geng, who says it essentially creates a digital twin of the forest. 

The goal isn't just to make pretty maps; it's to revolutionize how we predict when allergy season will take off and how intense it might be. By understanding exactly how much pollen a specific forest or urban canopy is capable of producing, researchers can create hyper-local pollen forecasts.

“The hope of this technology is to create a very detailed pollen map especially for urban environments,” says Commission.

A high-tech forecast won't stop the pollen from falling, but for people like Kristin Klein, who checks the forecast every day on her phone, it offers something vital: a roadmap for the season. It helps answer the two questions Klein has as soon as the first yellow dust appears: “How bad is it gonna be and how long is it gonna last?”

Want to see how the growing season has changed in your city? Explore the full Climate Central data here.