Warm Winter Brings Early Spring Pest

Remember all those balmy winter days with no ice or snow. Looks like there is a price to be paid after all.

It's really very simple. Warm winter brings early Spring. And Spring brings pollen.

Anyone with a car has noticed the return of the yellow dust—that doesn't normally appear until early April.

The count topped 8,000 on Monday, breaking the record of 6,013 set on April 12, 1999, according to Fox 5.

And until the area gets a good soaking rain, there's no relief in sight.

Tree pollen from the Birch, Mulberry, Oak and Sweetgum is the major contributor with additional pollen from grasses and weeds including sheep sorrel/dock, according to 

“The seasons are getting longer, they're starting earlier and pollens are getting released earlier," said Dr. Stanley Fineman, an allergist at the .

"Not only is there warmer weather, there tends to be more CO2 in atmosphere. CO2, or carbon dioxide, feeds plants and leads to a greater release of pollen, and sometimes that pollen is more potent and more allergenic than it was when there was less CO2 in the atmosphere.”

Some experts warn that warmer winters may be the wave of the future.

“There have definitely been some data indicating that climate change is causing spring to advance and plants of all sorts to flower earlier in the season,” biologist Estelle Levetin, chair of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology’s aerobiology committee told the Washington Post.

She points out that a recent study has shown that the fall ragweed season is also getting longer in the northern United States and in Canada. “But we can’t say for sure that global warming is to blame, based on one year, because of the year-to-year variation in weather and other factors.”