2026 Allergy Capitals report<\/a>.<\/p>\nStill, this allergy season, like the last one, is expected to be fairly rough, said Dr. Megan McCarty, an allergist with Lehigh Valley Health Network.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe potency of the pollen is increasing and then with the temperature changes, trees and grasses and weeds are all pollinating for longer and producing more pollen. So, both because of the more pollen, more potent pollen and kind of fluctuations in temperature [are] causing fluctuations in pollen production,\u201d McCarty said.<\/p>\n
There are two main factors make the Lehigh Valley bad for allergy sufferers, McCarty said. The first is that the Valley is full of lush plant life that pollinates during different times of the spring and summer. The other is the region\u2019s bowl-like shape, which can keep pollen, particles and other pollutants trapped.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have plenty of patients who come in and say they moved to the Lehigh Valley five years ago. They had no allergies, and now they have very intolerable congestion, sneezing, runny nose. And it\u2019s just because our exposure is so much higher,\u201d McCarty said.<\/p>\n
Chrysan Cronin, professor at Lehigh University, said pollen is not solely a regional phenomenon. She said because of how warm and windy it\u2019s been over the last several months, pollen particles and other allergens can be caught in the jet stream and carried from the West, Midwest or South to the northeastern United States.<\/p>\n
\u201cAllergens aren\u2019t static and they are caught up in the jet stream and then they are deposited all around the globe,\u201d Cronin said.<\/p>\n
And because of the shape of the Lehigh Valley, once these allergens are carried into the Lehigh Valley, they stay here.<\/p>\n
Climate change is also causing allergy season to last longer. This is because plants that release pollen do so based on heat or the amount of sunlight they receive. With temperatures rising earlier in the year and remaining high longer into fall, plants are able to pollinate longer.<\/p>\n
Cronin said for people with allergies, like herself, these are all things that are out of their hands, but there are things people can do to minimize their allergies.<\/p>\n
To minimize direct exposure on high-pollen days, allergy sufferers may want to consider wearing hats, sunglasses and possibly masks. Washing clothes and showering after spending time outside also is advised.<\/p>\n
To keep pollen from getting inside, keep house and car windows shut and don\u2019t hang clothes or sheets outside, where pollen can cling to them. Cronin said she uses air filters in her house to catch dust and pollen.<\/p>\n
The right medications can also a difference. Oral antihistamines, which block a type of chemical involved in allergic reactions, work great for most people. Intranasal corticosteroid sprays can help reduce inflammation and sneezing. For those who feel they need more help to deal with their allergies, there are pollen allergy vaccines and immunotherapy tablets. McCarty said the vaccines are usually effective for 10-15 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This year\u2019s warm spring has brought many pleasant sunny days, but it\u2019s also causing the Lehigh Valley\u2019s plants…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":143833,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,154,1057,182,139,432],"class_list":["post-159368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem","tag-bethlehem-headlines","tag-bethlehem-news","tag-health","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-top-stories-tmc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143833"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}