While the intense heat “may spare Central Texas residents from the brutal ragweed season” (see our August 26 post), KFOXTV in El Paso reports a “recent allergy upswing.”

According to the El Paso report, Allergies Hit The Borderland, “What is to blame for the sniffles, sneezing, and sore throats, is all the recent rain.”

Weather has a definite affect on allergies. According to Allergy & Asthma Advocate, Spring 2003, “not even scientists who have computer mathematical models incorporating years of pollen and meteorological data, will know what this year’s pollen season will be like.” According to this report, factors that affect pollen levels include “soil temperatures, number of days above 55 degrees, duration of freezing temperatures throughout the winter and moisture levels.”

Reports of an early ragweed season with a bumper crop of the pollen are coming from almost everywhere — except Texas.

KXAN-TV in Austin, Texas, reported that the extreme summer heat may spare Central Texas residents from the brutal ragweed season many other areas of the country are experiencing.

See an excerpt of the KXAN report below, and click the link to read the entire article:

KXAN.com - Heat Hurting Ragweed Plants
“While most of the nation is bracing for a nasty ragweed season, in Central Texas, the dreaded weed quite literally may not be able to stand the heat.”

I have recurrent sinus infections along with nasal polyps. I have no known allergies. I plan to move to Seattle, WA. Is this area good or bad for people like me with these problems? — CRL, United States

What’s biggest fall allergen? If you said “Ragweed,” you’re right, but…

[August 17, 2006] Rockford Register Star, Rockford, Illinois, reports:
Right now is prime season for the dreaded ragweed, but Rockford pharmacist Raj Patel has been busier treating allergies of a different sort.

‘Bee-sting allergies are the biggest thing right now,’ said Patel….

‘About September, when it starts getting a little cooler, that’s when we see more people with (seasonal) allergies.’

See the entire Rockford Register Star article here:
Allergies: Culprits change, misery doesn’t

I was interested in this posting because i have found my allergies (asthma and severe eczema) can suddenly come on disappear with a change of place. I have breifly stayed at some places (both near lakes) where all allergies disappeared and i felt wonderful (almost immediately). I stayed on the Big Island (wet side) very near the volcano for 7 months and had absolutely no problems with allergies at all. I moved to Maui and immediately had severe asthma. It would be so nice to know where to go!! — Magda, Hawaii

I am 37 years old and live in Kansas, Here for the past two years or so I have developed allergies, with these allergies have come fatigue, constant headaches and a general feeling of a depressed state. I recently took a two week vacation to Monterey California, within a day of being there I felt like a new person, all of my allergy symptoms were gone and I felt like a whole person, full of energy and life! I have been back in Kansas now for a few days and am feeling bad again, I never realized how bad it was until my trip. — Robert, Kansas

I have recently moved to Palm Springs CA. In May my allergies were terrible. My allergist back in WI asked me to find out what is bad and what kind of pollen is in this area during this time of year. Can you help me out with this? — CLH