Pollen levels high as Brisbane’s hay fever season comes three months early

There’s been an unusually early start to the hay fever season this year, with experts saying pollen levels are high in Brisbane – and could become even more severe.

Hay fever season has come almost three months early this year in Brisbane, with an expert saying it could be linked to the third consecutive La Nina event.

While traditionally, grass pollen levels peak at the end of November, this year has marked an unusually early start to the season with pollen reaching high levels at the end of August.

Independent agencies generally start pollen reporting for the year in November, but Professor Janet Davis, Head of the Allergy Research Group at QUT, said she thought reporting should start as soon as possible this year.

“Having grass pollen rates reaching high levels at this time of year is not something that generally happens in Queensland; it’s almost three months earlier than normal,” she said.

Previous studies have shown grass pollen levels have increased almost three-fold from the 1990s to the period between 2016-2020, while data from 2021 up to the February flooding event has shown pollen levels to be five times higher than average.

Professor Davis said significant recent rainfall could be a contributor to higher levels of grass pollen. Picture: Zoe Phillips

While Professor Davis said there was no direct evidence yet as to why this year’s levels were so much higher than normal, studies had shown reasons behind the previous increases.

“We understand from these publications that there’s an increase in pollen almost threefold, and that comes from grass greenness, increases in CO2 and increases in temperature, but that was all pre-La Nina, of course,” she said.

A third La Nina event was recently declared for Queensland, which is set to bring a wetter than average spring and summer.

Professor Davis said this significant rainfall could be a contributor to the higher levels of grass pollen, which makes up 70 per cent of the total pollen levels in subtropical regions like Brisbane.

“The rainfall can cause the grass to become more green and if the pollen is released, the rain can wash it out of the air,” she said.

Though the rain washing the pollen from the air sounds like a way to reduce hay fever, it can do just the opposite as rain can burst pollen particles open to release granules of allergens into the air.

Hay fever season has come almost three months early this year in Brisbane. Picture: Brad Fleet

“Our nose is supposed to filter out most particles, but if pollen bursts and the tiny allergens are released into the atmosphere, we can breath the allergens in and that’s when there’s an allergic reaction,” she said.

But the pollen season could get even more severe, according to Professor Davis, who said some climate literature had shown the timing of flowering was shifting forward and the amount of allergens in pollen was increasing in potency.

“Allergy clinicians tell me that if you have a short, sharp pollen season, then the symptoms become obvious,” she said.

“But if you have a long pollen season, like over six to eight months in Queensland at the moderate to high levels, you’re not going to have an acute condition; you’ll have chronic inflammatory symptoms.”

Professor Davis said her advice for hay fever sufferers was to start using preventive measures as soon as possible and stay on top of symptoms.

“Don’t dismiss your symptoms as just hayfever when it could be a risk factor for more serious conditions like asthma,” she said.