The weather has been very unsettled during June and the start of July, and this has been reflected in the pollen counts. As we predicted back in May, there have been some very high counts, but there have also been some days when the pollen has been washed out by the heavy rain.

The heavy rain we have seen has maintained the strong growth of native plants that started with the very wet April.  This means that there is an ample supply of pollen from grasses and weeds such as nettle. However, the unsettled weather has meant that pollen counts have fluctuated significantly from day to day and place to place.

Further high pollen counts are expected during any drier and sunnier interludes. This will increasingly come from weed pollens.

The graph below shows how the pollen count has changed significantly from day to day this summer, in response to the weather, and that on high days it has been much higher than last summer:

Pollen count has changed significantly from day to day this summer in response to the weather.

Patrick Sachon, Health Manager at the Met Office said: “The unsettled weather this summer has led to a fluctuating pollen count but as expected we have seen some very high levels when the weather has been good. Further high counts are expected during any settled, drier weather. We would therefore recommend that hay fever sufferers check the pollen forecast sponsored by Benadryl, every day and do all that they can to manage their symptoms.”