Pollen Counts for South Florida

If you suffer from seasonal allergies, then you should be familiar with pollen counts.If you are not familiar with pollen counts, then you should be acquainted!

Pollen counts are a measure of the amount of pollen particles that are in the air.These counts can tell you whether it is a good day or a bad day to be outside if you have seasonal allergies. When you see a pollen count number, it is the number of grains of pollen that were collected in one cubic meter of air.There are a couple of ways to take the measurement but that is not as important as knowing the number.

Fortunately, for people with allergies, there are several places you can find pollen counts for South Florida.

The Miami Herald prints a pollen count in the paper each day.However, as FIU professor Suzanne Koptur has pointed out, many of the pollens that are listed in the Miami Herald count are for plants that do not grow in this area.This leads to the conclusion that whatever lab is looking at the pollen slides is not familiar with south Florida flora and is misidentifying the pollen.   

Much more accurate is the count prepared by Pollen.Com.You can go to their website, type in your South Florida ZIP code and get not only the current pollen count but also a forecast for the next several days.This can be a big help in planning your outdoor activities.

Weather.Com also has pollen counts for the prior day and a four-day forecast.Unfortunately, they do not think pollen is in the air on Saturday and Sunday (days that most people want to participate in outdoor activities) because they don’t provide information for those days.

Weather Underground regurgitates pollen counts from Pollen.Com but adds information on air quality from other sites for a total picture of south Florida air quality.If you are interested in more than pollen, this may be your favorite site.

If you are concerned about mold counts as well as pollen counts, then you will want to look at the Florida Center for Allergy and Asthma Care website at http://florida-allergy.com/.They include mold counts as well as pollen counts.

If you are a person with seasonal allergies, pick a source of pollen counts and stay informed!

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