UF criminology sophomore Brett Helms made the mistake of turning on his wipers to remove the thick layer of yellow particles that covered his windshield.
Breathing in at just the wrong time, Helms let out a loud sneeze. The culprit: pollen.
“I have horrible allergies,” Helms, 19, said. “So having that happen made it worse for the rest of the day. I literally just stopped at the store and bought a pack of Claritin on my way to school.”
For many students and residents of Gainesville, late February means the beginning of pollen season and allergies.
Dr. Shih-Wen Huang, the head of the allergy clinic at Shands at UF, said pollen tends to stay in the air when it is dry outside and humidity is low.
“The weather pretty much determines the amount of pollen in the air,” Huang said. “The sources, though, include a total of about 14 different trees that could produce these pollens.”
The most common perpetrators of pollen production in Gainesville are maple, oak, pine and cedar trees, Huang said.
Huang said treatment of allergies can be difficult because nature is impossible to control.
“I just wish I could stop blowing my nose,” Helms said.
