The Big Sneeze: Climate change to make pollen season nastier

By SETH BORENSTEIN
AP Science Writer

Climate change will continue to make allergy season longer and more intense. A study published Tuesday details how warmer temperatures and extra carbon dioxide in the air will allow plants to bloom earlier and produce more pollen, a cycle that has already begun. By how much depends on the particular pollen, the location and how much greenhouse gas emissions are put in the air. With moderate cuts in greenhouse gas emission from coal, oil and natural gas, pollen season would start 20 days earlier by the end of the century. In the most extreme and increasingly unlikely warming scenario, pollen season in much of America will start 40 days earlier.