{"id":702847,"date":"2026-05-30T02:20:39","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T02:20:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/702847\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T02:20:39","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T02:20:39","slug":"late-spring-start-dry-conditions-to-blame-for-intense-edmonton-allergy-season-edmonton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/702847\/","title":{"rendered":"Late spring start, dry conditions to blame for intense Edmonton allergy season – Edmonton"},"content":{"rendered":"

While many Edmontonians have been taking in the warm weather as of late, some like Jessica Wiekli wish it didn\u2019t come with all the pollen.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s awful here,\u201d Wiekli said. \u201cWe just moved here from Calgary a year ago so this is our first season through it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wiekli and others who suffer from seasonal allergies<\/a> this time of year feel it has been more intense compared to other years, and they would be right.<\/p>\n

Kevin Sproule, an arbourist with Davey Tree Edmonton, says the late start to spring coupled with dry conditions are to blame.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a couple of what we call false springs, so there was warm enough weather to trigger the trees to think, \u2018Oh, it\u2019s spring time, let\u2019s go,\u2019 and then back to winter,\u201d said Sproule.<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen it does that, it does put up quite a bit of stress on the trees.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\"Receive<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tGet weekly health news<\/p>\n

Receive the latest medical news and health information delivered to you every Sunday.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s that stress Sproule says that causes trees and shrubs to produce more pollen than usual. Leafy, deciduous trees, like poplars and maples, also produce pollen earlier in the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is the type of pollen that really seems to affect people the most,\u201d Sproule said.<\/p>\n

On Friday, dusty yellow of pollen could be seen coating vehicles and surfaces across the city.<\/p>\n

Pharmacist Pam Lavold has been treating allergy sufferers for years, especially during the spring.<\/p>\n

\u201cAllergy season is on us in full force and that means that people are coming in with nasal congestion, sneezing, runny eyes, watery eyes, itching, rashes, all of those things,\u201d Lavold said.<\/p>\n

She added that seasonal allergies can begin as early as February, when people are exposed to snow mould.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople don\u2019t really think about it until it\u2019s full force upon them like right now and their symptoms have worsened,\u201d said Lavold. \u201cReally we should be starting treatment, talking to your pharmacist a little bit early so we can get remedies that might help you lessen symptoms at this time of year.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\tMore on Health
\n\t\t\tMore videos\n\t\t<\/p>\n

Those remedies include over-the-counter medications like antihistamines or nasal preparations.<\/p>\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n

There are also things you can do in your own yard. Sproule says keeping trees healthy and properly pruned can help lower the pollen count.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnything that you can do to keep your trees as healthy as possible and not trigger that last ditch effort to put out the pollen and recreate.\u201d Sproule said.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Click<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t2:07
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tStruggling with severe allergy symptoms this year? Here\u2019s how to manage\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"While many Edmontonians have been taking in the warm weather as of late, some like Jessica Wiekli wish…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":702848,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194294],"tags":[49,48,23752,295,84,255737,50367,220364],"class_list":["post-702847","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edmonton","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-edmonton","tag-environment","tag-health","tag-late-spring","tag-pollen","tag-seasonal-allergies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702847","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=702847"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/702847\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/702848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=702847"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=702847"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=702847"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}