Climate Change Is Lengthening the Sneezin’ Season

For millions of Americans who suffer from seasonal allergies to pollen, grass, or ragweed, climate change is bringing an earlier, longer, and overall more intense allergy season, according to the research group Climate Central.

And it creates discomfort for a sizable slice of the population. About one-quarter of adults (26%) and 19% of children in the US suffer from seasonal allergies, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Seasonal allergies, such as “hay fever,” are allergic reactions caused by airborne plant pollen and mold spores when the mucous membranes of the eyes and nose became itchy and inflamed, causing a runny nose, watery eyes, or a scratchy throat.

Many tree species release pollen in the spring, Climate Central states, while grass pollen often peaks during the summer, and weeds—such as ragweed—emit pollen into the fall.

In a bygone era, there was comfort in knowing that the need to keep a box of tissues and an antihistamine handy was at least limited in duration to a few weeks in spring, when trees were blooming, and in the fall, when plants were decomposing and dropping mold spores.

No more. An analysis of temperature data for 203 US cities shows the freeze-free season lengthened by more than two weeks (15 days) on average between 1970 and 2024, according to Climate Central, meaning the allergy season is 90 percent longer today.

That is simply because the freeze-free period—the number of consecutive days with minimum temperatures above 32°F—is when plants grow better and faster, thus releasing pollen.

This makes the pollen season not only longer but also more intense because of heat-trapping pollution. “Higher levels of planet-warming CO2 in the air can boost pollen production in plants, particularly in grasses and ragweed,” Climate Central notes.

This is true even in a relatively plant-free zone such as Midtown Manhattan, where the plants may be few, but the wind—which has been pretty wild lately—blows in the pollen and triggers the sneezes.

While the allergy season is getting longer and more intense, the website https://www.yourtango.com/self/ points out the sneezin’ season has been with us so long, it has inspired a whole catalogue of myths and superstitions. In East Asia, if you sneeze loudly, it means someone is talking about you. One sneeze means they’re saying something nice; three times in a row means the person who is talking loves you. In Poland, the sneeze means the person talking is your mother in-law, who is definitely not saying very nice things. In Armenia, the number of ah-choos is predictive: One means you’re less likely to succeed with your current goal; two means you’re on the way to winning the game.

In China, sneezing in the morning means someone misses you. Sneezing in the afternoon means you’re about to be invited somewhere. And sneezing at night means you’ll see a friend soon.

On the one hand, an ancient myth claims that if a person sneezes after someone tells them something, it means that what the person said is the truth. On the other, there are serious superstitious warnings such as the idea that sneezing causes the soul and/or evil spirits to leave the body, which is why we still say “God bless you” to someone after he or she sneezes.

Finally, there’s the old superstition that sneezing with your eyes open will make your eyes pop out. But that’s not very likely in reality, says David Huston, MD, associate dean of the Texas A&M College of Medicine Houston campus and an allergist at Houston Methodist Hospital. “Pressure released from a sneeze is extremely unlikely to cause an eyeball to pop out even if your eyes are open,” he stated, putting us all at ease in a 2016 press release.