If you live in Canberra and don't suffer from hay fever or asthma then you should consider yourself to be very lucky this year! As the last days of 2021 see the grass pollen finally begin to decline we ask "Will there be any relief in January 2022"?

A thunderstorm asthma alert has just been issued by @ACTHealth for the 18th and 19th December, 2021, with forecasts of extreme grass pollen and thunderstorms with damaging winds likely. While the chance of a thunderstorm asthma event occurring are small, past experience of these events has led public health agencies to issue warnings when conditions point to the possibility of such an event occurring.

The 2021 tree and grass pollen season has been one of the longest and strongest on record. Here we provide a summary of the pollen that really got up your nose this year and what we might expect in the coming weeks.