Massive exposure

Attention, allergy sufferers: ragweed starts to bloom

Ragweed is a highly adaptable and resistant plant with a high allergic potency that was introduced from the USA.

(Bild: Elenathewise/stock.adobe.com)

The next pollen season is just around the corner with the ragweed blossom. According to the forecast of the Austrian Pollen Information Service, the weed will cause severe stress from the end of August. The reason: the humid and warm weather of the past few weeks has led to an enormous inflorescence.

A clear trend has been emerging for some years now: the pollen season is starting earlier and ending later. In some places, the pollen from plants, which is causing more and more people problems, can now be measured almost all year round - in 2023, there was detectable pollen count on 330 days.

Hazel and alder, ash and birch got off to an early start
This year, hazel and alder also woke up from their "hibernation" two to three weeks earlier than the long-term average. Ash and birch made a record-breaking early start and the grass season in eastern Austria began in April instead of early May.

At the beginning of the previous week, a first wave of ragweed pollen reached the east and south-east of Austria - which is also much earlier than usual. Ragweed pollen was blown in large quantities from Hungary and Slovenia to Vienna, Lower Austria, Burgenland, Styria and parts of Carinthia