This past winter was one for the record books, and it has a lot of people who suffer from allergies wondering how the extreme cold and added moisture will impact spring allergies.
The answer might surprise you.
As that incredible amount of snow melts and nourishes blooming flowers, some of us will run into a new type of misery - spring allergies.
Couging, sneezing and sniffling due to pollen in the air can really put a damper on your favorite spring activities; this year, however, below-average temperatures during the winter might actually help us.
Because this spring might be a shorter season, the allergy season could be slightly better.
The only problem is that all these flowers want their chance to bloom, and with a condensed season, they all have to do it at once. According to Dr. Tanya Laidlaw, that translates into a shorter but more active allergy season.
"It can be more packed in, so you get sort of the same amount of pollen, but in a shorter period of time," she said.
There are things you can do to shut out pollen on those peak days - keep your windows and doors shut so pollen stays outside where it belongs, use an air conditioner with a good filter, change clothes once you get home and try to shower before bed. A lot of pollen can hide in your hair, and if it gets on your pillow, you might not get a good night's sleep.
