Gesundheit! That yellow pollen on your car is not why you’re sneezing

You’ve been blaming the wrong thing.

That yellow stuff on your car? That’s not what’s clogging your airways, making your nose run and causing your eyes to itch.

But it is, according to Lowcountry allergist Dr. Thomas Beller, a “marker” — its presence on your vehicle signals the arrival of other pollens filling the air.

This year those airborne allergens have arrived early.

And if the pattern of years past holds, he said, that means a long and bad tree pollen allergy season.

Lay off the pine

Tree pollen season, which typically lasts from early March through April — although it can begin in February and linger into May — is just one allergy period.

The other two?

Grasses pollinate in May and sometimes into October, Beller said, and weed season runs from September to November.

But in terms of “classic seasonal allergies,” the springtime is Beller’s busiest season — because of tree pollen.

The fine, yellow dust on your car comes from pine trees, he said. It’s much more dense than oak pollen or allergens from wax myrtles (also called Southern bayberry) — the two plants that cause Beller’s patients the most discomfort.

At the moment, he’s seeing patients affected by cedar and alder pollen.

But Mother Nature’s heavy hitters are on their way.

“When you see the pine pollen, usually the oak is pollinating, too,” he said. “But (the oak so far has) kind of sputtered on and off. The major pollens that are going to bother the majority of people have not yet fallen.”

Oak and wax myrtle pollen are smaller than pine and more easily circulate in the air, Beller said, which is why they bother more people. Birch is another culprit as are walnut and pecan trees, and others with nuts.

Most folks aren’t even allergic to pine pollen — Beller doesn’t even test for it anymore.

How ’bout that weather!

It’s not helping.

“A mild winter can signify an early allergy season, since trees tend to start pollinating earlier,” according to Pollen.com.

Based in Columbia at the S.C. State Climatology Office, Wes Tyler hasn’t seen much pollen in the Midlands. But his aunt on Edisto Island, in nearby Colleton County, said her vehicle has been coated in the mustard-colored dust.

“It’s definitely been a mild winter so far,” Tyler said. “And we’ve been in stretches where (temperatures in the) 70s seem to be more common than the 50s.”

The temperature in Charleston has averaged 56.6 degrees through the first seven days of February, he said. It was almost ten degrees warmer during the same period in 1989, the warmest first week of February recorded.

And while we’ve reached the climatological halfway point of winter, there’s still time for cold weather.

“The next three weeks is when we typically have colder weather,” he said, “and when statewide winter precipitation can occur.”

Close those windows

Need some relief from the congestion, runny nose and itchy eyes?

Close the windows and run the air conditioning, Beller said.

Shower — doing so washes the pollen from your skin and hair.

And, he said, try over-the-counter medications such as anti-histamines, allergy eye drops and nasal sprays.

This story was originally published February 8, 2017 at 4:22 PM with the headline "Gesundheit! That yellow pollen on your car is not why you’re sneezing."