Pollen Levels Extremely High In Utica, Rome and Syracuse Areas of New York

If your allergies are already acting up in Utica, Rome, and the Syracuse areas of Central New York, you can blame the pollen levels.

Pollen count across the Central New York region has increased noticeably according to CNY Central.

"A combination of late March warmth, a new stretch of way above average to near-record warm temperatures through the rest of this week, below-normal rainfall, and recent low relative humidity values have led to increasing pollen counts across central New York"

CNY Central points out the following reasons why the pollen has been so bad this year, and it deals with temperature:

1) CNY had a four-day stretch of 60+ days from March 21 through March 26. Four of those seven days had a high temperature of 70 or higher. This included a high of 76 on March 25 which just missed the record of 78.

2) Rainfall recently has been noticeably below normal (2.00" below normal for the last five weeks).

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Relieve Seasonal Allergies With These Techniques

To reduce your exposure to the things that trigger allergy signs and symptoms, the Mayo Clinic suggests the following:

1) Stay indoors on dry, windy days. The best time to go outside is after a good rain, which helps clear pollen from the air.

2) Take extra steps when pollen counts are high to protect your home:

"Close doors and windows at night or any other time when pollen counts are high. Avoid outdoor activity in the early morning when pollen counts are highest."

3) Rinsing your nasal passages with saline solution (nasal irrigation) is a quick, inexpensive and effective way to relieve nasal congestion.

You can read more tips here.

Even though we feel CNY is the best, let's see if we made the list: