"The pollen count today is in the ‘miserable’
range," said the host of a
morning TV program.

Miserable, indeed.

Big, yellow clouds of pollen misery coat cars, irritate eyes
and aggravate allergies.

"We have an explosion of pollen in spring. Then
everything will settle back
down," said Pam Griggs of the Atlanta Allergy Clinic, one
of two certified pollen
counters in Georgia.

"Because we had such a late spring, everything bloomed
at once," Griggs said.
"Most trees and grasses are coming out now."

To measure the pollen in the air, the clinic uses a special
sampler that raises a
silicone-greased rod into the air. After 24 hours the rod is
removed and examined under a
microscope to get the pollen count.

Atlanta, and most of Georgia, blew through the top of the
pollen-count charts on April
16. More than 3,400 particles per cubic meter of air were
reported in north Georgia.

During the first week of April the highest count was 332. And
that could cause severe
problems. In the spring, Griggs said, pollen counts of zero to
30 are considered low.
Counts of 30-60 are moderate, 60-120 high and anything over 120
extremely high.

"We are blessed with trees in Georgia, and pollen is
just a part of their
reproduction," said Carroll County Extension Director Don
Morris."Pollen
particles are the male spores of flowers. Trees depend on wind
to distribute the pollen
during flowering."

This simple act of nature causes itchy, watery eyes, sore
throats and some respiratory
irritation in allergy sufferers.

"Pine pollen, the yellow pollen you see, shows up more
but isn’t as much a problem
for allergy sufferers as others like oak pollen," Morris
said.

Can you escape the pollen invasion?

"This is certainly no time to air out your house,"
said Dale Dorman, an
Extension housing specialist. "Keep your house closed and
turn on the air conditioner
for ventilation."

But just keeping the doors and windows closed may not be
enough.

"There’s really no effective way to keep pollen out of a
house," Dorman said.
"You just have to take steps to reduce it."

Even humidity affects the amount of pollen finding its way
inside.

"When the relative humidity is low, the dry conditions
make pollen float around in
the air," Dorman said. "Turning on a humidifier will
help make those
particulates fall out of the air and give you cleaner air inside
your home."

Air filters on heating and cooling systems also can help
filter out pollen.

"It’s just something that we’re going to have to put up
with until the first of
June," Dorman said.