What is the outlook for the grass pollen season for 2020 in Canberra?

Welcome to the first day of Spring! Do you have itchy wand watery eyes? Are you suffering from symptoms of hay fever or asthma? Here is a summary of the 2020 winter pollen season and are a few pointers to help you navigate the beautiful, but sometimes challenging, spring months ahead.

Canberra has been subjected to one of the worst starts to summer with air quality conditions reaching HAZARDOUS levels due to dense smoke haze, but this represents only one of the Big 3 Particulate Air Quality Challenges for people living in Canberra. Our citizen science survey's show that daily reporting of environmental factors such as pollen and particulate matter (PM2.5/PM10) via online apps can help understand risk factors for respiratory health in Canberra. We recommend changes to the frequency and spatial density for recording of these environmental factors that will help to further mitigate health risk into the future.

Spring weather in Canberra can often be surprising but this season seems to have been full of turbulent weather patterns ranging from cold wintery blasts to hot choking dust storms. What has this meant for the grass pollen counts this season?

The tree pollen season is all but over in Canberra but now the grass pollen season has started and is in full swing (or full sneeze!)

The appearance of fluff in the ACT signals two things - grass pollen is on the rise and uni exams are just around the corner!

(Iconic image by Mick Ashley see https://mickashley.com.au/product/pollen/)

The Canberra grass pollen season is almost upon us and we normally expect increased levels of grass pollen to appear in the first week of October and peak in November. So what are we expecting this year as we sniffle and sneeze through spring?